HBO's "Unscriped" how much is fake?

I finally got around to watching the first 5 episode of this half hour
series that lasted only one season on HBO. I find this is to be such a
strange show to figure out, all of the actors seem to actually get
these parts and then show up on the shows in real parts yet some parts
are clearly scripted/plotted like Frank Langella who appears under a
different name and gives to most perfect sage advice most of the time
but could the show have really have had so much pull to have gotten the
show's leads all these roles? Did these poor folks have to go out snag
roles and then and only then have it incorporated into the show?

Barry Margolin...

I think that everything involving Langella was either fully scripted or
improvved from a basic outline (like Curb Your Enthusiasm or Christopher
Guest movies).

I think most of the material following them to auditions and acting
roles was filmed documentary style, following them to their actual work.

I'm unsure about parts like them hanging out in bars with each other.
It's not clear what the difference there would be between unscripted and
improvved, since they're all actors anyway.

Alex W...

I got the impression that the whole thing was scripted but based on the
actors' reality. Kind of like Curb Your Enthusiasm.

BTR1701...

No, a lot of it was real. There was a scene where one of the main female
characters managed to get a part as a featured background extra in the
Keanu Reeves movie "Constantine". If you watch the actual movie, you can
clearly see that person in the background when that scene comes up.

The show was truly a weird mixture of the real and the unreal.

Alex W...

Yeah. And Greenberg was really on One Tree Hill and Prime. Like I said,
it was based on the actors' reality, but the actual shooting of it is
scripted in the sense that there is a plot structure, but maybe the
actual dialogue is improvised. Like Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Default User...

I got the feeling that some of the bits that were based on the
creators' past experiences were only partially scripted. Like some of
the weird audition interviews I believe were broadly scripted for the
interviewers, but ad-libbed on the part of the actors. Or I could be
wrong.

Alex W...

Anything you see on tv that has any semblence of a storyline, character
development or story arcs, is planned. Shooting real life and trying to
edit it into a story is near impossible. That's because most real life
is dull and boring with no direction.

I don't know for certain about Unscripted. But for Curb Your Enthusiasm,
Larry David does come up with story structures and locations,
situations, etc. The dialogue is improvised, but clearly the direction
of the conversation has to go a certain way with a start and a finish.

I'm guessing Unscripted is the same way.

GarondoMarondo...

Which Is why I think its so stange. Basically, they were working two
realities, one where they were trying to get real parts in real
productions, and another where they then had to work on the show
"Unscripted" behind the scenes of the productions and such.

bob smith...

Agreed. I thought it may have diminished the 'hunger' to go out and get
parts - who wants to be auditioning for bit parts when you are already the
star of a TV show?

I can only assume part of the deal was that HBO got to pay them next to
nothing :-)

I find the whole premise an interesting idea for a show, shame it
didn't catch on.

Alex W...

I agree. I really liked the show.

muzicmakr...

The unanswerable question of how much of the show was "fake" was why I
didn't stick with it more than a couple of episodes.

..
Garondo Marondo!