"The Real World" supervising casting director said it takes charisma, attractiveness and a military record to get on the show.
This Saturday, Damon Furberg and his crew will look for members of MTV's 2005 Real World. They will be at Sauce/Liquid Lounge and Raw seeking Albuquerque candidates between the ages 18 and 24.
"I don't think we've ever been to Albuquerque before," said Furberg. "We are excited."
He worked in reality TV as a casting director for more than three years - a long time because it is such a new industry, he said.
Casting calls for "The Real World" have had huge turnouts recently, he said.
"Groups of 10 walk in at a time," he said. "We'll talk to them or play party games with them. It's mostly just to get people talking and see if they are articulate and charismatic."
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So far the casting crew has been to Chicago, Lexington, Ky., Boulder, Colo., and Syracuse, N.Y. He said the odds of casting an Albuquerque housemate are pretty good.
"From the 12 cities we are going to, we need seven people," he said.
Furberg said despite what some may believe, casting directors don't just look for people who will fight on air.
"Watching people yell at each other is only interesting for one episode," he said. "We look for people who are at a turning point in their lives. If they end up in the exact same place they started out, and all they do is fight, that doesn't serve our purpose."
He said being attractive helps, but it isn't a breaker. For this season, MTV is looking for someone in a military situation - either about to go in or just getting out.
"This is such a contemporary thing," he said. "We look at people who have specific things going on in their lives."
He said he is only disappointed when a person he helped cast doesn't do anything at all on the show.
Furberg watches every season of "The Real World," and said he enjoyed the Las Vegas season because he had a lot to do with it.
"Real World is the granddaddy of reality shows," he said. "It wasn't the first, but it was the first to popularize the genre and make the jump from documentary to reality."
He said people have grown up watching the show, and it sets itself aside from the rest because it doesn't manufacture scenarios to create drama.
"It all comes from their personalities," he said.
Furberg said people start getting weird when they turn in their home video audition tapes. The strangest person to ever tryout was a young man who Furberg said tried a little too hard and contradicted what he said.
"He is an amateur pro wrestler," he said. "He thinks he should be in a boy band, but he is sort of one of those masculine guys. I see his tape again and again in all the reality shows I've worked on."
UNM student Donovan McBee said the show is just about looks.
"They wouldn't pick me because I am not pretty," he said. "I'm real."
He said it's great they are coming to Albuquerque, and there is a good chance a local could get on the show.
"If they are actually from Albuquerque, they probably have a different take on life," McBee said.
UNM student Andrew Seals said he would try out, but thinks his chances of getting on aren't high.
"I'm not gay, and I'm not a minority," he said.
He said if he got on, he wouldn't disappoint the audience.
"That's what people want to see," he said. "So yeah, I'd cause a whole lot of drama."
Furberg said MTV hasn't told him the location of the 2005 season yet, but said is usually dictated by the jobs the producers want to give the kids.
UNM student Paul Aaron said if he were picked he would want to live in Ontario.
"You can streak, and you won't get arrested," he said.
COMING ATTRACTION
MTV's Real World Casting Call
Sauce/Liquid Lounge and Raw
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
405 Central Ave.
