UA grad to appear on MTV's 'Made'

By Mark Hughes Cobb
Staff Writer
January 23, 2005

Alabama has another star in the reality TV nightscape, even before the new "Survivor" debuts in February, when three Alabamians will be in competition.

UA grad John O'Connell, who got his master's degree in directing in 1998, earned his reality TV credits trying to turn a tomboy into a dress-and-high-heels-wearing actress on MTV's "Made."

His episode (season 5, episode 8), debuted Thursday, but will air several more times over this week.

An associate professor of theater at Arkansas State, O'Connell's proximity to Memphis and ability to go over-the-top in auditions won him the bit.

In August 2004, MTV's people spread the word they were looking for "the Nathan Lane of Memphis" to coach 17-year-old Anna Paulson toward her theater dream. Friends cued O'Connell.

"My fax said I was scheduled for a 2:30 audition, and 'please be as funny and enthusiastic as you can.' Well that's no pressure," he said laughing.

"How much alcohol can we serve?"

In the lobby, he bumped into numerous actors he knew from working in Memphis. Every one of them kept saying, "I'm just going to be myself. If they want something else, forget it."

"I thought, 'Oh (expletive), you're going to do whatever they want you to do," he said.

O'Connell went in with blonde hair - his usual silver had been dyed for a recent part - and blew the producers away.

"I knew why they cast me: I was frenetic, over the top. Too big for that camera.

"I got the part because that's what they wanted...but it's hard to be that way for three hours on camera."

The process was grueling, he said, involving four or five commutes a week for three weeks, all while he was preparing to start a new school semester and direct a show. He was paid $1,000, less than he gets for directing a college play, but did get MTV to pick up travel expenses and the occasional hotel room when shoots ran long.

While hardly a prize student -- she's no actor" - Paulson's eagerness actually made the shoots even longer. MTV hoped the girl would be more recalcitrant, kick up some sparks.

"There's less 'real' in reality television than I thought there was," he said. "They tried to steer me in directions, to say things I wouldn't say."

Drama thrives on conflict, and the "Made" friction often derives from the imbalance between a driving coach and an increasingly reluctant, or weary, student.

"Unfortunately for entertainment, Anna was willing to do everything I wanted her to do," O'Connell said.

So they apparently (at press time, O'Connell hadn't seen the final version) manufactured some drama out of Paulson's reluctance to wear a dress.

"She wanted to audition as Helena [from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'], even though she was going for the part of Puck, because she wanted to show her versatility," he said.

"She hadn't been in a dress since she was like 5 years old...so I had to go shopping with her.

"So it's really kind of stupid. But the show's stupid," he said, laughing.

At times, he felt the producers were pushing way too far.

"She's an odd little girl, kind of a misfit in her school, and she knows that, and she talks about it on camera," O'Connell said.

"I had to remind them I was an acting teacher, not a psychologist, don't ask me to comment on those things."

It's his second shot at national TV, after getting paid $700 cash for 10 minutes of work as a preacher on the live "WWE Raw," renewing the vows of Stephanie and Triple H.

"I got paid very well for that, in cash, out of silver, handcuffed briefcases filled with hundred-dollar bills," he said, laughing.

In comparison, "Made" paid him $1,000 for three weeks and all that travel time.

"I got paid more to direct 'You Can't Take It With You'" for Theatre Memphis, he said.

Still, he's a fan of some reality TV, especially the competition shows such as "Survivor." Of the makeover shows, not so much. But all in all, he'd do it again, just knowing what he was in for. If nothing else, it won him props with his students.

"Anybody under 20 knows and watches this awful show," he said. "When I made an announcement last semester that I was a 'Made' coach, I became a star teacher in a moment. I cruised through that semester."