MTV True Life Looking for Homeschoolers
MTV is currently producing a documentary for its "True Life" series about young people who are homeschooled. The intention of this documentary is to dispel myths and stereotypes that young people across the country have about homeschoolers.
They are looking for homeschoolers who might be interested in talking about the experience for the documentary.MTV is especially interested in young people and families who are about to start homeschooling, or considering making a transition to homeschooling.
TheHomeSchoolMom neither recommends nor condemns the show and is providing the following information as a service to our visitors. Please research carefully before committing to any media project.
The following information is from an MTV publication describing the show.
MTV True Life:
I’m Homeschooled
Detailed information about True Life,
our process, and the participants we
are looking for.
This Episode:
This hour-long documentary will chronicle the lives of three young people who are homeschooled.
It will follow them through their daily routines as they learn, both inside and
outside the home environment. We’ll be with them at athletic events, music lessons, field
trips… wherever they go to further their educational and personal growth. We will show the
challenges they face dealing with their parents, transitioning into or out of “traditional”
schools, going to prom, getting into college. In this episode, we hope to help de-mystify the
decision to home-school and what it takes to make it work.
About True Life and Our Goals:
True Life is a documentary series that’s been running on MTV for 10 years. Each episode
of “True Life” is about a different topic. Most of the topics have some social or personal
importance, like this one. Some of them are more frivolous aspects of youth culture, like
episodes about gamers or cheerleaders. All episodes aim to tell deeply personal stories.
There is no host, reporter or narrator. The young people will tell their own stories in their
own voices.
Our goal, as with all episodes of True Life, is to put young people across the country in our
subjects’ shoes. We hope that, by portraying the most intimate moments of our subjects’
lives, we will help young people understand complex personal and social issues.
Who We’re Looking For:
We’re looking for kids who appear to be between the ages of 14 and 18 who are currently
home-schooled, about to start home-schooling or about to transition from home school to
an education primarily outside the home.
We have no preference for race, socio-economic status, religious beliefs, etc. We’re simply
looking for young people who are home learners, are in MTV’s demographic, and are
interested in participating in a documentary that will follow them as they live their lives as
home-schooled students. We’re especially looking for young people who are honest, open
and articulate about their feelings.
We never pay anyone to participate in “True Life.” People often participate because they
want to show the world what it’s like to be in their situation and to create empathy for others
in their situation. In this case, participants will be part of a documentary that will help bust
negative stereotypes around home-schooling. It can also be very empowering to tell one’s
story to a large audience.
How We Make “True Life” & How We’ll Shoot This Episode
Once we’ve determined whom we’re going to follow, we begin filming them at moments
and events that are important to their story. We don’t film them all the time and everywhere
– we’ll try to select dates that are important to their home-based education and film those.
We try to be as unobtrusive as possible by filming with only a two-person crew and a small
digital video camera. Our goal is for people to forget we’re even there. Once we start
rolling, we try not to influence our subject in any way – we simply try to capture their real
lives as they’re living them. We typically film between 25 and 35 hours of each person
we’re following. We’ll get those hours two or three days at a time over the course of three to
four months. We always allow our subjects to stop filming if they become uncomfortable or
if there’s a problem. We edit the stories ourselves, with input from three executives at MTV.
We have total creative control over the process, and the executives never ask us to include
anything that isn’t thoroughly fact-checked and true.
Punched in the Head Productions
We are a small independent production company that’s been contracted by MTV to
produce certain episodes of “True Life.” We’re usually asked to produce the more “weighty”
episodes, like “I’m Home from Iraq,” “I Have Autism” and “I Have Schizophrenia.” Many of
our previous episodes are online at truelife.mtv.com in the “Videos” section of the site.
How You Can Get Involved:
If you are, were, or about to be home-schooled and you’re interested in participating or just
want to find out more about the show, please feel free to contact us at the information
below. We would be happy to answer any and all questions or concerns you might have.
If you know any young people who might be interested in this documentary, or are part of
an organization that works with home-schooling families, please contact us and let us know.
Please pass along this information and our one-page flyer and spread the word about this
important documentary!
If you are interested in participating, contact True Life at TLhomeschool@gmail.com.