NEWSARAMA.COM: BUDDY SCALERA TALKS 7 DAYS TO FAME

Examining 7 Days to Fame

Think of it as the ultimate, but eminently logical extension of the reality television genre. You’ve got seven days, and during the first six, you discuss your life, loves, education, career, and unfulfilled dreams.

And on day seven?

Contestants kill themselves in the most creative way possible.

Anyone want to place bets on when we’ll see it? Those of you scoffing – just recall two stories/movies before you answer too hastily: The Running Man and The Truman Show. Particularly when the first came out, there were those who scoffed that anyone would ever want to watch a show where contestants “fought”…and where are we now?

In regards to the earlier mentioned idea, the safe money, of course, is on this month, when 7 Days to Fame, a three-issue miniseries from After Hours Press debuts. Written by Buddy (Deadpool) Scalera, with art by Nick Diaz, John Statema, and Wilson Ramos, covers by Dennis Budd.

We caught up with Scalera to talk about the storyline, why such a nice boy like him has ended up writing about the most pessimistic television show ever, and how, in his view, this isn’t all that much of speculative fiction.

Newsarama: First off, let’s just make sure we have the concept neiled down: It’s a reality show, with six days to discuss your life, loves, accomplishments, failures, etc, and on the seventh, you kill yourself, right?

Buddy Scalera: Yes, people go on the show 7 Days to Fame as a way to tell their life story before they die. It’s like a very long, detailed suicide note. In real life, media attention is given to famous and infamous people. If you don’t reach a level of fame or infamy, you will probably much die a normal, relatively anonymous death, unless the circumstances of your death are somehow extraordinary. For some people, this can be really distressing. The TV show is sort of a modern equivalent of This is Your Life except, its This is Your Life And Death. In the story, they stretch it over a week, which gives people time to really get to know the people who are about to kill themselves.

NRAMA: Obviously, at least on network and cable, death and uncensored sex are about the last two frontiers reality television has yet to tackle, so it’s pretty easily to see where you got the idea, but what made this something you wanted to dig your claws into and examine in this degree?

BS: Back in the mid-90s I was watching a lot of reality television. It wasn’t the craze it is now, but it was starting to take off. I was watching shows like Cops, American Gladiator, and Real World. I was fascinated by what they were getting away with on television. As a teenager, I watched Faces of Death, and I sort of figured that one day this kind of stuff would eventually hit the airwaves. Back in 1994, I was working on a cable-access television show, and I learned that cable was much less regulated than regular television airwaves. That is, there were different rules, especially for non-profit, community created television. You could get away with stuff like nudity and cursing, if you fit within your “community standards.”

There was a show out of California that had porn stars stripping, since that particular area was a place where a lot of porn films were created. So their community standard allowed nudity. Anyway, all these elements came together and I wondered if something like suicide television could be possible. This is back in the ‘90s, so I dismissed reality TV as a passing fad, sort of like pet rocks and hula-hoops. I totally underestimated how big reality television would become. One of the things that really compelled me to resurrect this idea was the boom of shows that pushed the envelope like Fear Factor and Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire. If they could get people to eat bugs and marry complete strangers, I figured that they could find people who were willing to kill themselves. There have always been people who threaten to kill themselves for the entertainment of the audience. G.G. Allin of the band the Murder Junkies used to say that he was going to kill himself live onstage. He had an outrageous live act, and a lot of people really wanted him to commit suicide onstage. There is an audience for this kind of "entertainment."

NRAMA: In your view, what’s the fascination with death that motivates the audience of something like 7 Days to Fame?

BS: People want to know about death because it’s sort of an inevitable part of life. It’s one of the only things we can all say that we will all definitely experience. It’s like when people slow down in their cars to try to get a glimpse of a bad car accident; they want to know what happened. Or when the news keeps re-running video clips of people getting killed in horrible accidents. Often we imagine ourselves in that situation because it’s not all that hard to imagine. In terms of suicide, I think people want to know “why” someone else would do it. Most of us think about suicide or at least about dying, so we want to know why someone else makes that ultimate decision.

NRAMA: Speaking of discussing – I’m gathering from your comments, this isn’t something that you’re doing as a lark, that is, this something you’d like to see a discussion over – i.e. reality television and the insatiable appetite for other’s misery?

BS: Yeah. At one time I worked on an R-rated website called brooklynbizarro.com. There were lots of things on the site from naked girls, to movie reviews, to record reviews, to jokes. It was an all around fun site for grown ups. Of all the site features, the most popular section was the “Gore Gallery.” There were pictures of dead bodies, autopsies, car accidents…stuff like that. If you looked at the site stats, you would find that a great majority of our visitors were looking at the Gore Gallery. This really disturbed me, since I was really uncomfortable with this part of the site. More than anything, I was truly amazed at people’s desire to see more and more of this. I mean, after you see one burnt cadaver, why do you need to see another?

NRAMA: So back to the comic itself - how does this work? How is the story told, from both the contestant’s perspective and the outside world’s?

BS: There are two stories going on here. One is the story of how this show could actually happen. The other is about the people who it affects. We follow the story of the two producers who create the show and how it changes them and their friendship. I think a lot of people will be able to relate to this, especially if they have ever stayed at a job just because they needed the money or the health benefits. Lots of people are in jobs that they know they should quit, but they get caught up and sometimes they just don’t know how to get out. One of the producers is really uncomfortable with the show, but she stays with it, despite the fact that she knows she should quit. I also wanted to talk about how a show like this could actually happen. That is, what events would have to fall into place to open the door to a show like 7 Days to Fame.

NRAMA: So – there really is no prize here, no cash award, no surviving the contest, or anything like that? Why would anyone want to be on it? Who does it attract?

BS: It’s sort of an anti-prize. At the end, the winner is sort of the loser, you know? But this isn’t a competitive show, as much as it is a human-interest show. In the beginning, it attracts people who are terminally ill. They are making a choice to tell their story before they go. But soon it just attracts people desperate for attention, even though they know the inevitable ending of the show. Many people just want to be famous, no matter what the cost.

NRAMA: Obviously, this is a hot-button kind of topic, and there will be those who will say you’re only touching upon this topic to attract attention to the comic…. are you? What are the larger goals here?

BS: The topic itself is pretty disturbing to begin with, so I really have to brace myself because I have no idea what the reader reaction will be. My larger goal was to write about the media as a cultural force. The media is a force of nature. Sometimes it’s bad, like the media circuses that stalk celebrities. And other times it’s good, like when we see journalists making positive changes with investigative reporting. But ultimately I want people to see that we are the media. The media is a for-profit business. If we demand junk food television, that’s what they will give us. And I chose to tell the story from the perspective of the producers, since I wanted to show that they were people too. I see a lot of really flat, two-dimensional interpretations of journalists, as if everyone who goes into reporting is shallow and stupid.

I’ve worked in the media in some form or another for over 15 years, either as an editor or a reporter. I’ve met my share of idiots, but I’ve also met a lot of truly conscientious, civic-minded professionals. Reporters are often called upon to cover events that they find morally objectionable. It comes with the job. But they have to force themselves to be objective, so that readers can make up their own minds. I’ve never worked in scripted television, but I imagine that writers and producers are sometimes faced with similar ethical challenges. If someone is expecting a big, fat slap down of the mainstream media, I think they are going to be disappointed. I am trying my best to humanize the producers of the show, and everyone who watches it.

NRAMA: And it’s just the three issues?

BS: Right. Three oversized issues. I really wanted four issues, but I couldn’t afford to go to press four times. So I made each issue a bit larger than a normal comic. Most comics are 22 pages of story. These are 30 or 32 pages, so in three issues you get as much story as four issues. It’s a really good value for your money, I think. As a writer, it was nice to write to a longer page count than 22 pages. The extra room helps you get better acquainted with the characters and situation, so you are more engaged when something significant happens in the story. The mainstream business of comics is set up to create 22-24 page monthly comics. But as an indy publisher, I wasn’t tied to a monthly schedule, so I decided to play with the page-count format a little.

NRAMA: This has been a pretty low profile project, and a lot of people may have missed it completely – any advice for folks looking to get a copy?

BS: Pre-orders are already in, but people can still tell their retailer to order a copy. A few retailers like Midtowncomics.com have ordered extra copies for their website, just in case people can’t find it at their local store.

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