Front if you want to; you’ve seen the show.

But chances are, you didn’t know that the executive producer behind BET’s most popular original television program of all time (Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is) is also a budding label owner with credits such as NBC’s The 5th Wheel, HBO’s Bad Boys of Comedy, and most recently another little show on BET called Hell Date.

James DuBose is founder and CEO of DuBose Entertainment, and has spent the last 17 years making television history by working his magic on programs like the reality TV show turned cult classic Blind Date. DuBose got his start in 1991 as a studio production assistant in L.A. Today, he runs a production company and a new label, the Dubose Music Group, which licenses music for DuBose Entertainment (among others) and specializes in artist management and development.

In a little over 17 minutes Mr. DuBose shared with DX the reality of making reality TV, the truth about Making The Band, why Hell Date is realer than you think, and why Diddy is one of the smartest men he’s ever met.

HipHopDX: As an executive producer, break down for me exactly what it is that you do in terms of television shows...
James Dubose: I basically create shows that I go out and pitch and sell to the network, and then see the production through to the end. And that means everything from creating it on paper when you go out and pitch a show, to selling it, to then creatively putting everyone on board….to see the vision, go out and shoot the show, come back and sit in the edit bay with the editors until the finished product is done….overseeing cast, graphics... everything that you see in terms of final product is approved by the executive producer.

DX: How much communication is there in that communication phase of creating the show? Do networks reach out and say “Hey this is what we’re looking for”, or is it moreso just your idea that you end up selling to them?
JD: It’s a little bit of both actually. My agency will call and say, “Hey, this network is looking for this type of program and so forth…” I try to pitch out 15-20 shows per quarter. It really is a numbers game just like anything else. The more you pitch, the better the chance that you have of selling. It’s very difficult to sell a show these days. So it’s a little bit of that. Me understanding from my agency what the networks are looking for. Then also now that I have somewhat of a reputation they may call me and say, “Hey we have this show that was brought to us, we need an executive producer and we think that James would be perfect for it.” So sometimes it happens like that as well.

DX: You definitely have an impressive reputation, and congrats on all of your success…
JD: I appreciate that.

DX: Having worked with networks like Spike and HBO and BET and NBC, how different is it when you talk about producing for different networks? Is it pretty standard or can it be like a night and day type difference depending on the network?
JD: Yeah I mean to me it really depends on the show. Also you’ve got to understand who the [demographic] is. For instance, my shows at BET are very different and probably wouldn’t play on NBC or on Spike or somewhere like that. So it’s really understanding the type of product and what the end result of the story that you’re trying to convey is; and who that’s best suited for. To me, the best shows out there are the ones that can play anywhere…you can pull them off one network and put it on the next. I love telling stories like that, and doing shows like that- that have black, white, young, old or otherwise that could take the show and be very entertained by the show and hopefully take something away from the show outside of just being entertained.

DX: Can you talk a little bit about how situations like the recent writers strike affects a job like yours?
JD: Two things on my end, first of all because I do a lot of reality programming it didn’t really affect that part of the business. But because scripted is definitely the next phase of the company and the business for me, I have options on other scripted show as well as features. My next step was to hire the right writers and so forth and to build a team around that and go out and pitch. And as soon as I take the money to option the scripted show, the strike happened. So they were sitting on my desk for quite some time. But now we’re getting back into it. But the scripted world where the writers are involved, the strike definitely affected the companies in that business right away.

DX: Is it really as clear-cut: scripted programming vs. reality TV? I mean, talk to the skeptic who sees a lot of writing in reality TV and wonders whether or not there is some blurring of the lines there?
JD: Yeah I mean, a lot of the shows are what they call “contrived” reality TV so I really hate to use that word, but at the same time if it’s true to what you’re doing… basically I just fall back on… I think that the Keyshia Cole show- one of the greatest compliments I get on that show is that people really felt like that that was real, that that was their life regardless of whether the cameras were on or not. And if I could get that response, then I feel like I’ve done my job. There’s always writing. Even in reality shows you’ve got to understand that I have some sort of outline or blueprint for people to go. You put them in that situation and let the reality happen as it may. Whereas the scripted show you’re writing lines for them, you’re doing everything and its planned out ahead. And that’s not really the case in reality programming. Continued on page 2 »