The late ESPN anchor Stuart Scott and the weekend of Super Bowl 2012 in Indianapolis are just a few of the legendary individuals and highly anticipated events covered on the Indianapolis-based entertainment program Real Scene TV, which airs on WTHR channel 13.
Amber Strong, now co-owner, creator and executive producer of Top Shelf Production, which owns Real Scene TV, worked as a production assistant at WTHR after struggling to find employment in the TV news industry.
“A friend told me about another friend that was starting an online entertainment tv show called Go Indy Live and I went out and auditioned, and I got the job as a host,” said Strong.
Although the show secured great interviews, the team was understaffed and overworked. That’s when Michelle Overton, now co-owner and executive producer of Real Scene TV joined the team. The two stayed with Go Indy Live for about a year and a half after brainstorming big ideas to expand the brand.
“As still employees of WTHR, we had a new general manager who brought up all of the things the station needed, like diversity. Everything he was saying was what we were working on and what we had,” said Overton.
After setting up a meeting with the general manager, Overton and Strong’s initial thoughts were to do online segments to gain a broader fan base, but their coworkers had something else in mind.
“The general manager said ‘I don’t know if there is a home for this here, but I don’t want to see it go across the street’. We went into the meeting thinking web, but the sales manager said ‘this is a 30 minute show’ and the production manager at the time said ‘if they pick this up, you won’t be here much longer,’” mentioned Overton.
Real Scene TV began with only a few people, a $500 digital camera and a $3 karaoke mic Michelle’s father found at a yard sale. The program is now on its fifth season and airs biweekly.
“The hosts have evolved over time but they are always uniquely diverse. Our goal of the show was to really represent Indianapolis,” commented Strong. “Not to look a certain way or just promote a certain thing. We can do the hard hip-hop concert and then bring in a country singer all in one show.”
Outside of concerts, parties and events, the program often highlights non-profits and local organizations.
The lot of the content we cover isn’t getting normal TV air time,” said Overton. “Most of your normal air time is news related but we show small mom and pop restaurants, non-profits and things people don’t normally know about because they aren’t the big state tourist attractions.”
The owners said huge things are on the horizon and they are expecting changes they are excited about. Some of their future goals is to air every weekend instead of biweekly and to expand to other cities.
“Why can’t you have a Real Scene Miami or DC?” asked Strong. “It’s a very simple concept we can do.”
In a highly male-dominated industry, Overton said having a woman-owned business has had its advantages.
“We had a photographer say he prefers working for women and part of that was the direction and detail we gave him. In the beginning, there was some difficulty in letting go of the control because we’ve both served in many roles, but now we let and trust people to do their own thing,” she said.
The program is always seeking talent and hopes to be the stepping stone for those who would like to break into the TV industry.
“When you realize there are only four news stations in Indy and you have four chances to get a news job, it’s hard,” said Strong. “We created this show for people that love TV, want to be on TV, love to write, report, produce edit. This is a place to go to learn and get their feet wet.”
For more information on Real Scene TV, visit Realscenetv.com. On YouTube: youtube.com/user/RealSceneTV
