Archives
Interview with BB Supervising Producer - Comps - Jym Buss - Exclusive!
I've been lucky enough to have an online friendship with Jym Buss, the Supervising Producer - Competitions for 'Big Brother' for a few years now. He's one of the Good Guys and took time out of his very busy schedule to answer a few questions for folks who read this AOL Journal. Please feel free to link to this interview, but don't copy it in its entirety. It's probably the only "exclusive" I'll ever have! ;-)
1. Can you explain a bit of what you do and your position on the production staff of the 'Big Brother' television show?
Allison (Grodner) has me come on about a month and half before we start shooting the actual show to begin creating competitions for the season. She will usually have me in sometime around the start of May to tell me what the twist is...and see if I have anything to add to it. I start around the top of June with my staff and we pitch ideas around everyday for a month. I give homework to my staff each night - they need to come in the next day with 5 competition ideas that are strong and playable in the backyard and on TV.
2. What other shows have you worked on in the past and what do you consider your first break in the business?
My first break getting "into the biz" was getting fired from my job in Radio. I had no income and my best friend was a Line Producer on "Clarissa Explains It All". He hired me to be a runner on the show. I made no money, worked long days, and took lunch orders from a then 14 yo Melissa Joan Hart (who was real nice by the way)...I moved from runner to Production Assistant to Prod. Coor. in less than a year and life was good. I stayed with Nickelodeon for 5 years.
3. Back to 'Big Brother' -- what competition over the seasons you've been with the show was the most difficult to set up?
There are two real answers to this question. Setting up "Flaringos" (Season 5), which was the first Veto Competition last year, was artistically a huge yard transformation. The time that it takes the Art Dept to create these looks is overwhelming - they arrive in the dark early AM hours to have things ready for me to look at by 7:30am. I run a rehearsal with the director using my staff as Houseguests.
Answer two: Competitions like "Feeling Knotty" (season 4 opener veto) and the Entangled Rope comp. Season 5 are extremely difficult to set up. It takes longer than any other Competition as all ropes and angles are measure to have the same amount of twists, turns and snags. They are highly competitive and fun to watch but not fun to set up....those are long mornings!
4. Were there any challenges which went totally awry of your original intentions? Were the results funnier than you expected or perhaps just different?
I get this question a lot....and I would like to have an amusing story to tell...but, I have never had anything go wrong with the competition itself over the years. Even all of the comps. on Amazing Race have gone off just fine... however I did have a technical glitch during a live HOH show that scared the hell out of us.
One live show in Season 4 I brought forth the first Lock Out device game where house guests hit a button to chime in with an answer before their competitors. It worked great all day during rehearsals with my team. After the Eviction and during the commercial that you are watching I bring the HG into the backyard (via microphone) and ask them to get into their booths. Once in the booths I go down the row and have each person test their buttons. This is their first chance to try it out. None of the buttons worked anymore...the commercials had ended and Julie was back on the air getting ready to get into the game (I believe Julie had about 1 minute of script that promoted next weeks shows)....just when she said - "Now it is time to crown a new Head of Household" the buttons came back to life as mysteriously as they died...and the game went off without a hitch.
5. What competition in past seasons was your own personal favorite and why?
My all time fav is probably the Morph-O-Matic. The first time I saw a graphic of Jase's face morphed with Holly I couldn't stop laughing and I said we had to do this game! That is when I came up with the idea of creating a machine (like in the movie THE FLY that did the morphing).
My favorite looking competition was the DNA strand that started season 5 - I thought it was a really beautiful design.
My fav yard transformation will be this year - can't tell you - but, it will be unmatched.
My fav mental game was either "This Little Piggy Won The Veto" or the Diamond Veto competition between June, Jee, Erica, and Allison with the glass staircase. (Season 4)
6. Although I know you can't go into any detail about this season's houseguests, if you were to describe them as you know them so far (as a group) in ONE word, what word comes to mind?
Pretty (they are also our smartest cast - but that was too many words wasn't it....)
Thanks for your time! I'm looking forward to an exciting and entertaining new season of 'Big Brother'!
Thanks for the questions - it was fun. I think I need to start documenting my competitions from all shows as they slip my mind so easily. I have done too many, really! I appreciate all of the questions from people and thank people for watching the show. It is an awful lot of fun to work on ...and the staff is truly the nicest group of people you have ever met....Allison and Arnold are so down to earth - I don't even feel like I am in Hollywood. It's rare - believe me. That is why I come back every year.
[Editor's note: Jym's work can also be seen on the currently airing series 'The Cut.' Any hyperlinks existing were inserted by me for reference.]
etvjackie at 10:04:00 AM EDT Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
-
I love that Jym takes time out for the BB fanatics here! Thanks, Jym, for sharing! And thanks, Jackie, for pulling that together for us!
-
Thanks for a graet interview!
7/13/05 2:19 AM