Interview: UTOPIA Creative Team On What Makes It Different

UTOPIA is being described as a "social experiment", one where 14 pioneers are quarantined off into a three-acre compound and watched by an army of cameras. With limited sources it's up to their instincts to develop a functioning society from nothing. They'll decide the government structure, housing, and everything else a society needs to work effectively.

Recently BroadwayWorld TV took part in a conference call with the show's Executive Producer Jon Kroll, as well as the FOX network's Executive Vice President of Alternative Entertainment, Simon Andreae.

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Can you talk about what the telecasts are going to look like when the show premieres next week?

S.A.: So here's a broad format, which I hope answers your question. We're streaming the show 24/7, as you know, on the Internet. In the first five weeks, we're going to be airing at least two episodes a week. This first week, we have four hours of episodes - a two-hour premiere on Sunday and then an hour at 8 on Tuesday and an hour at 8 on Friday. In the next five weeks, we're going to have Tuesday and Friday and then, thereafter, just Tuesday.

I say that because what's actually happening is the episodes are almost like weekly highlight packages of what's been happening in the few days leading up to that episode. We're shooting now. We're editing very fast and assembling the material into either twice or once weekly kind of highlights episodes.

Do you think there is a deeper message, in a show called UTOPIA or is it just a TV show as far as you're concerned?

S.A.: Oh, no, absolutely not. I think there very much is a deeper, broader message. I can answer that question in two parts. The first is to say that we don't really see this primarily as a TV show. We see it as a social experiment, as a world that we have set up that abandons and takes for granted nothing about contemporary society in which all the pioneers are rethinking all the fundamental tenets of civilization from scratch, with everything on the table. That's the point of this.

Then it so happens that we're soaking their environment in 130 locked-off cameras, filming everything they do, and then arranging it into stories that we're broadcasting on television.

You said that this is a social experiment. It's supposed to be an area with no rules, no laws, but it seems like there are actually quite a few restrictions. Can you talk about what the restrictions are on the pioneers?

J.K.: Our goal on this is to have as little contact and communication and interference with the community as absolutely possible. We do have certain rules in place, such as the fact that they can't leave their compound and now that they have a phone, they can only reach out for reasons of commerce.

It's designed to keep them in a bit of a bubble, but in terms of how they interact and how they solve their problems, we're really trying to have them create and enforce their own rules.

What kind of supplies and tools are they going to be getting in order to build this society?

J.K.: They have a phone now and they're calling hardware stores and supermarkets. They can order whatever they want, but they've only got $5,000. There are some scraps and bits and pieces that are lying around the compound that they're being resourceful and getting working. They're - I'm watching the live feeds right now and they're working on a tractor that they're trying to get running. But we've tried to make it challenging.

What makes this a FOX show? Why is this a show that you feel FOX is particularly well positioned to bring to viewers?

S.A.: I think I will say two things. The first is that FOX has a reputation, and a background, in starting new forms and trends in television, generally, and in unscripted particularly. This is a very, very unusual show. It's not a competition. It's not an elimination show. There is no prize and, as I mentioned earlier, it's more of a world we're covering than a show that we're creating.

Secondly, I think, editorially, it's going to places that are one in the same time very sophisticated and broadsheet - explorations of religion, sexuality, gender, punishment, and so on. I think FOX is also the network that is the least afraid to tackle subject matter that is a little more racy, and a little more taboo, than you might find on the other networks.

What's been the biggest challenge so far among those 14 participants?

J.K.: Agreeing on anything. The biggest challenge has been, even though they knew they were going to be with very, very different types of personalities, I almost think we cast it too well for diversity in terms of thought, point of view, background, because they are so incredibly different that coming to the most basic decisions have been next to impossible for them.

They can't agree as to whether they're a democracy. There are two people who are talking about ceding and forming the free states of UTOPIA. We're sitting here aghast. It's day six and it's just happening at light speed and we just try to keep up with them.

A lot of people in the TV industry think that this is a huge roll of the dice, maybe the big gamble of the season, by FOX, to devote so much time to this, so many resources. Why go with such a big premiere week with a show like this?

S.A.: I think, for of all it, it's a huge, ambitious idea. It just deserves a decent amount of screen time. I think, in a way, that's the most obvious answer. I mentioned earlier it's about religion, law, ethics, sexuality, politics, and all of those deep themes that are the crucible of any society.

I think in order to be able to have an audience grasp that, and 15 different people, once a week is a little too small of a window for the audience simply to be able to absorb, appreciate, and keep up. I think it makes absolute sense that in the early period of the transmission of UTOPIA, people are going a little bit more to put their arms around, and grasp, and absorb.

Are any of the pioneers emerging as the most interesting or main characters in the process?

J.K.: I think that several are for different reasons. There are people who are really struggling and have already expressed, is this the right thing for them, including our terrific pastor, Jonathan Lovelace. There are people who are assuming leadership roles. Josh, our contractor, tried. Mike, our lawyer, has now taken on that role. Red, our hillbilly handyman, desperately would like that role. Aaron, our chef with a military background, is a strong personality.

I would say, overall, the men have really taken an aggressive position at the start and have dominated a lot of the activity; however, Hex, our six-foot tall huntress, is right in the middle of the mix and not backing down to anybody.

When you're casting these pioneers, what are the qualities, or characteristics, you're looking for in people? Is it that you want one farmer, once you've got a farmer, you're moving onto somebody else? What is that process?

S.A.: I think it's kind of three things that are working together. Each individual has to have a very strong, charismatic, magnetic personality anyway. That's the case with any unscripted show. That's the first thing. The second thing is we want everybody beyond that to have both a skill and a strong point of view. The skills, there are certain skills that are particularly useful here - the skill of being a contractor, of being able to handle animals, of being able to identify and forage for plants, to be able to cook, and so on.

There are a number of those and then there are a number of very particular contrasting ideals that we wanted. We wanted people on very different points of the spectrum over, for the sake of argument, religion or monogamy. So each individual had to be powerfully charismatic, bring a useful skill, and have a strong ideal. Then beyond that, we then have to mix it all up and look at the group as a whole, make sure it was sufficiently diverse in terms of race, and age, and gender, and then play with that Rubik's Cube until everything seemed to be balanced.

With the show being such a long format and one with really no end in sight, what is it that UTOPIA has that's going to keep viewers committed for such a long period?

S.A.: That's a very good question. I think, in a way, UTOPIA has as much in common with a serialized, scripted show, even like a primetime soap opera, as it does with a traditional reality show. In a traditional reality show, you're relying on the drama of format constructs, like elimination and cash prices. As you know, we don't have that here. I think what's going to invest the viewers is the gross and development of these characters, both their own trajectories and their trajectories together, their relationships with each other.

Just seeing people size up what their opportunities might be for romance, and the obstacles they might encounter, and the competition they might encounter, really has a lot of the best ingredients of the most high octane soaps. I think what people are going to do is hook into the characters, pick their favorites, and follow them through triumph and tragedy, through the melting pot and caldron of this brand new world with no rules and see what adventures they go on, where they end up, and root for them, cry with them, laugh with them, and all the rest of it.

J.K.: Also, the constant influx of new blood adds new dynamics and that's one of the challenges for we, as producers, to continually add people who challenge the group in different ways, add new skills but, also, new points of view. That continual refreshing is what's going to keep this going for a year and perhaps even beyond.

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The three-night series premiere begins on Sunday, September 7th at 8 p.m. and will also run Tuesday, September 9th and Friday, September 12th of FOX.

Photo Credit: UTOPIA Official Facebook Page

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