Has anybody else seen the Advert asking for people who want to share their experience of being an ex-pat in France (amongst other countries) for a new series on ITV? I wonder if anyone from the Poitou Charante area will be on it?I also wonder if it will be a positive or negative experience shown if they do. I suppose positive experiences won't make for good TV viewing audiences though! In that vein, I'm finding the programme about the British Consulate in Spain interesting viewing at the moment :-o

TV producers like positive experiences too, I think all the 'place in the sun' type programmes and 'Little England' showed that. Trouble with taking part in one of these expat programmes is all the catty comments made on one or two of the other expat forums.

When we bought our place 8 yrs ago Channel 4 got in touch, we think through the agents, and asked us if we would like to be on their programme following Brits moving abroad and renovating the property they had bought. By the time they had laid down the conditions for filming, ie: must be filmed 'Having conflict with neighbours' ??? 'Arguing with the builder, must be a French builder' (to add interest to the viewing. The time schedule we had to work to to fit in with their shooting schedule and broadcast date.. the list was endless and all they offered was to reimburse us for any out of pocket expenses. They wondered why we turned them down!! I now see these "reality TV" programmes in a totally different light. They are nothing but rubbish, totally set up for gaining ratings for their advertisers I doubt if there is one element of truth in any of them....... mind you, I suppose you could even say that about the news nowadays...lol......

Whether you choose to participate in such programmes is a matter of personal choice. Just remember you will be dealing with journalists who will have a very firm agenda for the content. Your views will be "modified" to suit that agenda and they do not recognise the expression "off the record". Journalists are known for not allowing facts and the truth to get in the way of a "good" story.

In this type of show views are not modified, speaking from experience by the way, however participants have no editing rights and do not get a copy of the show until the week of broadcast.

The titles of the shows tend to give the content away. No point in having a positive show called 'Homes from Hell' and no point in having a negative show called 'A Place in the Sun'

BTW Channel 4 do not make these reality programmes they buy programmes from production companies and it is the production company that decides the format of the show. They pitch the show, series length and cost to the TV channels and it either happens or not. Sometimes shows are recorded but never broadcast, the TV channel still stumps up the fee though.

Participants are not paid, they get hotel and travelling expenses and if the shoot goes on for more than a day they usually have to pay for their own evening meal.

Found this, and for any of you who might take part, please keep us updated so we can watch it at the right time:
http://www.survivefrance.com/profiles/blogs/expat-lives-television-programme

I have met a good many broadcast and newspaper journalists and to a man/woman they have always without fail sought to modify my story to suit their purpose.
As I said before, their motto is "never let the truth get in the way of a good story".