It’s Getting Really Real

Morning conversation with my amazing producer-to-be re: the novel’s option and her attorney about the contracts.  There will soon be a “break out the champagne” moment but this was just really nitty-gritty clauses and such (versus our exuberant “let’s put on a show” mindset.)
Followed by weird publicity hurdles for UPWARD DOG (that don’t daunt me in the least) amidst editing via Skype  super-cute Hope (my niece’s black lab puppy) + Belle new video.
Finally, ending the day with what seemed like truly authentic emotion on Rachel Zoe re: baby and family and life from RZ and RB.  (I think all the dry interstitial moments and obviously the manufactured and intensified crises as debatable, but I don’t think they are good enough actors to have faked the tears over Skylar.)  IE, For reals…
And Jeremiah getting what he wanted (sort of) even though a quick google reveals that many of the Bravo fanbase are equally outraged by his treatment.  [I’m outraged by his treatment but also have a Big Brother desire to slap him out of his delusions;  although it’s reality TV so who knows how staged it all is.]
By the way, if you’re reading this and want to know one of my mini-encounters with reality TV, check out the clip of me on this site under PRESS on the Travel Channel.
I was creating a yoga program with the five star Mandarin Oriental in NYC.  The Travel Channel wanted to include them in a segment on Fantasy Penthouses so they asked me to participate as the yoga element.
First, they requested that I show up with my luggage so they could film me checking into the hotel.  I told them that I was leading a yoga program there and living in NYC so that made no sense.  We compromised to have me walking on the street anyway.
One of the features of the room — which is something outrageous like $15,000 a night — is that it has broadcast capabilities.  We had me do some Yoga In Bed stretches in the suite and that was pretty much it.
But when the segment aired it begins with voice-over saying “When TV types like Edward Vilga arrive in New York, they stay at the Mandarin Oriental where he can broadcast his TV show live.”
OK:  1.  I lived in NYC at the time.   2.  I wasn’t staying at the Mandarin Oriental as a guest but creating a yoga program for guests.  3.  I don’t have a TV show.
Now, I realize that none of this is really defaming me — and my roommate at the time Dan thereafter always referred to me as “a TV type” such as “Are TV types like yourself going to Alex’s party tomorrow?” — but it was hilarious to see such blatant disregard for accuracy.
Obviously, reality TV is pretty far from real — some of it is obviously super-scripted and staged, and even when it’s not so much of the chaos and crisis is manufactured.
In a way, though, I’m trying to let it provide for me a model for how to deal with challenges in “real life.”
Knowing that almost every episode begins with an intense challenge (“you must decorate the house in two weeks”) but that there will almost always be a sudden surprise, even more impossible challenge (“you have to do it blindfolded!”) helps re-frame real-life situations.
On Sunday I was planning out my week and tried an exercise of “master minds” inspired by the classic THINK AND GROW RICH and also THE EINSTEIN FACTOR, where I tried to tap into what role-models and heroes and inspirations would say/think/feel about my current life and agenda.
One of the most fascinating things that came up was that one character (a mogul I never met but the father of a friend/muse/collaborator/soulmate) had an entirely different attitude about my challenges than I did.  I was feeling –– to be honest –– quite depressed and defeated and nervous about some scenarios, whereas when I tried to get inside his head and channel his energy/vibe,  he found the situation inspiring and challenging and frankly that nothing could be more fun than plunging full-steam ahead.  More than the old “crisis = opportunity” in Chinese calligraphy (or something), he really felt that this was perhaps “the magic moment,” the one where the transformation happens.
So today I’ve made a big sign to remind myself of that –– that this is a major adventure, that I’m dealing with the second-half of the episode’s “even more impossible challenge.”
In other words, even more than checking into the Mandarin Oriental to broadcast my imaginary TV show,  that an entirely different attitude towards “reality” might just be entirely possible.