Onslaught of reality shows ushers in 'guerrilla casting'.

In her small office on the sixth floor of a Miracle Mile office building, Missy Hughes, casting producer for the reality dating program "Fifth Wheel," pores over a wall plastered with scores of bios and passport-sized photos of potential contestants.

"This guy's a stud," Hughes says as she moves along the wall. 'This guy is the all-American boy you'd want to take home to mom. This guy is a total computer geek but there's something quirky about him -- he likes to jump out of airplanes and do wild things."

Here is the science behind reality television, where squads of recruiters vie to find the best looking and most eccentric people who are Willing to reveal their triumphs, tragedies and foibles on national television.

Only a fraction of the people on Hughes' wall will make it onto the show, but, she points out, "right out of the gate, we don't tell anyone no. We might want to do a freaks and geeks episode later in the season."

Just as the explosion of unscripted programming in prime time has had a profound effect on television actors and writers, it's also ushered in changes in the world of television casting.

"It's a new niche that's been cut in the casting business. It's guerrilla casting," said Lisa Beach, an independent casting director and board member of trade group Casting Society of America. "But as much as it's opened up opportunities, it's taken away casting jobs from other areas, especially sitcoms and one-hour dramas."

Television, of course, is hardly a static medium and there already are signs of reality fatigue among viewers and advertisers -- especially when it comes to poor imitations of hits like CBS' "Survivor" and ABC's "The Bachelor." In announcing their respective fall lineups last week, the networks played up their new sitcoms and dramas, as opposed to past seasons where reality shows played a more prominent role.

But while prime time reality might be peaking out, there are still plenty of shows in the pipeline either for lesser time slots or for cable.

It remains a matter of simple math, said one casting director. If a reality show can garner the same ratings as a scripted program with production costs that are substantially less, you're going to make the reality show.

Casting reality TV does not involve agents or union actors but rather the show's own casting departments -- usually a collection of freelancers who have adapted to the process of hiring non-professionals.

For those who have made the switch to reality, it has meant expanding their pool of "talent" beyond known and seriously aspiring actors to anyone who is eager to get exposure, no matter how unflattering.

New reality

At "Fifth Wheel," produced by Bobwell Productions Inc. and distributed by Universal Worldwide Television, Hughes oversees a staff of six coordinators whose job it is to recruit potential "daters" in bars, coffee shops, the beach, at parties and wherever else young and attractive people congregate.

That sounds easy, but Hughes must find five "daters" each for 74 shows that "Fifth Wheel" will shoot this year, or more than 350 people.

Hughes pays her coordinators between $600 and $1,000 a week to recruit contestants for the show. If they don't produce they will be gone quickly. "They can't just bring in a bunch of dogs," Hughes said.

And money is hardly an incentive. Contestants on "Fifth Wheel" and "Blind Date," another show produced by Bobwell, generally earn about $100 for their appearance, in addition to perks like travel expenses, limousine rides and the cost of their date, said Grant Axton, coordinating producer for "Fifth Wheel."

Axton and Hughes said they prefer not to use traditional theatrical casting agencies to find people for the show because they want unfamiliar faces and have already invested an in-house recruiting operation.

Finding fresh faces has become harder, especially in Los Angeles where most reality shows are produced and where just about every hotspot has been saturated with recruiters.

"There's a lot of cross-pollination out there. There's kind of a reality show circuit where you see the same people on different shows," Axton said. "Recruiting has definitely gotten to be more of a challenge."

Laura Chambers, director of casting for LMNO Productions, who is working on show called "Race to the Altar" scheduled to appear on NBC this summer, agreed. "It's gotten harder and harder to cast programs because there's only so many people who are willing to have cameras follow them around."

Different role

In a pinch, "Fifth Wheel" will use outside agencies to find contestants, but most of the individuals they work with have agents who tend to counsel clients against reality shows. Or they belong to one of the performers' unions. Like many reality shows, "Fifth Wheel" is a non-union production for participants.

Still, one of the worst kept secrets in Hollywood is that many of the "waiters," "construction workers" and "ex-girlfriends" on reality shows are actually aspiring actors who belong to unions and who are willing to work for peanuts to get some exposure.

"It can open up doors for actors. You're not getting paid, but you can utilize the opportunity," said Traci Green, a freelance casting director who has worked with NBC on several reality shows. "There's always actors out there who want to be seen."

The nature of the job performed by casting directors on reality shows is a far cry from the traditional role they have played in television production. In fact, reality casting directors can be more like beauty contest judges than casting professionals with an eye for talent who play a role in the creative process.

"As I see it, there's a lot of contestant coordinators who are calling themselves casting directors. I don't consider that casting," said Carol Barlow, who casts hosts and celebrity judges for reality shows on ABC and NBC, and has her own agency, Carol Elizabeth Barlow Casting.

Still, she doesn't begrudge the reality genre.

"It's been excellent for me," Barlow said. "I just wish the shows lasted longer."

Indeed. Rather than casting an ensemble for a sitcom or hiring bit players and extras to round out programs, reality casting directors are challenged with finding new, undiscovered talent for each show.

"I applaud anybody who could that. It would send me over the edge," Beach said. "You're talking about open call after open call, going to the bars and restaurants and all that. They have to see literally hundreds and hundreds of people."