Production
According to a December 2009 New York Times article, Drew Pinsky, who was alarmed by tabloid portrayals of addiction as an indulgence of the rich and famous, and a group of independent producers, approached VH1 with a proposal for a reality television series which would authentically depict addiction, as a sort of media intervention.
According to executive producer John Irwin, casting for the first season was the most difficult, as the representatives of the celebrities who had been arrested or had publicized bouts with addiction refused to speak with him and the other producers. The process became easier after the first season aired. Actor Tom Sizemore, for example, who was cast for Season 3, had been sought after since Season 1. Producers have reportedly offered actress Lindsay Lohan six figures to appear on the show. Pinsky, who focuses on the treatment side of the production, is not usually involved with casting, though he reportedly visited Rachel Uchitel personally in order to convince her to join the fourth season cast.
A multitude of cameras are employed, which film twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, during the 21-day treatment cycle. Because some dramatic incidents occur early in the morning when the camera crews are not present, automated cameras are mounted all over the clinic to capture them. The exception to this are the bathrooms, which nonetheless are equipped with microphones to monitor unusual sounds, such as patients attempting to use drugs.
In addition to receiving the free treatment (which would normally be worth approximately $50,000–$60,000 USD), the patients receive a salary for their appearance on the series, which is prorated, and distributed once a week as an incentive to stay.
Celebrity Rehab has spun off two other shows. The first spinoff is Sober House, which depicts Rehab alumni living for 30 days at a sober living facility, as an interim step for recovering addicts between the completion of rehab and their eventual return to their old life. The second spinoff is Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew, in which Pinsky and his staff treat celebrities for sexual addiction.
Read more about this topic: Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew
Famous quotes containing the word production:
“The myth of unlimited production brings war in its train as inevitably as clouds announce a storm.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“It is part of the educator’s responsibility to see equally to two things: First, that the problem grows out of the conditions of the experience being had in the present, and that it is within the range of the capacity of students; and, secondly, that it is such that it arouses in the learner an active quest for information and for production of new ideas. The new facts and new ideas thus obtained become the ground for further experiences in which new problems are presented.”
—John Dewey (1859–1952)
“The society based on production is only productive, not creative.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)