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The Amazing Race => The Amazing Race Discussion => Topic started by: georgiapeach on July 07, 2008, 02:48:20 PM

Title: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on July 07, 2008, 02:48:20 PM
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/BertramandElisebirthannouncement.jpg)





Thanks to emjaytee at TAR-flies for the update!
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: sunnyca on July 07, 2008, 07:18:55 PM
just saw this after sending the other msg in the TAR14 thread!  WOW! july fourth baby! very cool!
congrats to the brand new TAR family!  Is this the first TARbaby? meaning babies born after association with TAR (racers or production folks) not before?
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Slowhatch on July 08, 2008, 09:22:11 AM
Colin and Christie were considered for TARAS, but Achilles Alexander (http://www.tarracers.com/photos/a/christie) had other plans.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on July 08, 2008, 10:16:45 AM
Oh no, LOADS of babies!

Let's see:

Kelly of TAR 7 (Ron and Kelly) married Scott and had Seth

Jonathan and Victoria had a baby

Kevin (of Kevin and Drew) had triplets!!!

Ray and Deana had a blue eyed charmer themselves

Charla had a baby this year

Lenny has a baby (not with Karyn!)

and I KNOW there are more...thinking...!


Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: TARAsia Fan on July 08, 2008, 10:24:32 AM
Thank goodness Lenny went with someone else. Can you imagine hearing, "LENN-EEEEEE!!!!!" all your life?
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: puddin on July 08, 2008, 11:57:12 AM
Thank goodness Lenny went with someone else. Can you imagine hearing, "LENN-EEEEEE!!!!!" all your life?
*snort*  :funny:
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: sunnyca on July 08, 2008, 03:42:06 PM
thanks for the link, slowhatch! great photos.. can't believe ray and deana stuck together long enough to have a baby.. a "blue-eyed charmer"! achilles is an interesting name allright, perhaps named for their only Achilles heel (according to Adam Troy-Castro) -"Colin's anger management problem". they look like they're having a great time with their Greek hero...
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Kiwi Jay on July 08, 2008, 05:06:21 PM
CHARLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! had a baby what!!
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on July 20, 2008, 09:13:17 AM
More from Kate O'Hare:

Quote
Last night was the CBS/Showtime/The CW all-star party, at a large club in Hollywood. Or at least I was told it was large, because to me it only seemed as big as the inch-and-a-half between my nose and the backs of the next celebrity entourage.

.....

Then I had a nice chat (OK, nice yell, it was loud in there) with Bertram Van Munster, executive producer of "The Amazing Race" (for which you may recall, I fake-Emmy-voted a few days ago). Regular Cuppers know that I did the first press visit to the super-secret "Race" HQ in El Segundo for an upcoming syndicated feature story. At that time, his wife and partner, Elise Doganieri, was less than two weeks away from giving birth.

Van Munster reveals that he now has a healthy baby daughter. As she was delivered by C-section, Doganieri unfortunately couldn't go on the the world-spanning scouting trip for the next season of the reality-competition show. Sadly, he didn't have a picture of the new addition, but he says she's gorgeous, and Hot Cuppa TV believes him.

http://blog.zap2it.com/kate_ohare/

Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on October 31, 2008, 03:56:38 PM
October 31, 2008'Amazing Race' insider tips and tricks


When Amazing Race co-creator Bertram van Munster is available to chat, we take him up on it and our reporter (and Amazing Race fan) Gayle Carter did just that recently.  He was eager to share how he picks the Race teams, his favorite reality show, his well-tested travel tips, his favorite locale and more. Everything but his age (“I don’t want you to know. Is that OK?" he asked politely.) We also wanted to know where else he’d like to take the Race (“A lot of places, but I don’t want to say it.”) Click read more for the whole conversation.

Q. Why do you think that even at Amazing Race season 13, it still seems new to viewers? The cast? The locations?
“It’s a combination of all those things: great casting, the world is still a big place...I still have the enthusiasm to come up with great stuff. It’s very energizing going around the world trying to put together new stuff all the time. The contestants have never been able to guess where we are going. By the same token, we have never been able to pick who is going to be able to win the race. It’s absolutely impossible for us. I think one couple is going to do it and then they’re out the next week. It’s completely unpredictable who will win.”

Q. What makes great contestants?
“We’re looking for teams of two who have a pre-existing relationship: They know each other well, very well, sometimes too well. We all know when we sit with our family member in the car: The first five intersections we agree to turn left but at the sixth one, the ego starts to come out and we don’t agree we’re supposed to take a left [turn]. If they know each other well; they immediately begin to react. They start in the first three minutes. If we don’t know each other well; we’re reluctant to say something to each other. It is humorous. ... We want people from all walks of life, people who have traveled very little: Remember the coal miners [Season 10]? They were wonderful, their eyes were wide open and they were excited about the world... A lot has to do with their personalities, who they are, how they react, how they react to each other and the next ingredient is how they react to the next contestants. At the same time [we are casting], we are laying out the race, knowing what their fears are, what they like or don’t like...”

Q. How many people apply to go on each Race?
“Depends. It goes between 8,000 and 25,000. It’s a lot of work to go through it. I love good new reality people, there’s an innocence you’ll never find in old [reality TV] stars. They think they know how it works, they’re kind of blasé.”

Q. Would you do a Celebrity Amazing Race?
“A celebrity version is always fun but how are you going to get all these celebrities to go around the world for three or four weeks? They are swamped with their own lives; it’s difficult to even make appointments with them. We’ve been asked by wonderful people, everybody wants to do it but they can’t really do it...”

Q. What about safety on the Race, is that a concern in choosing locations?
“Safety is probably the biggest concern because you want people to have a good time and have a wonderful experience -- we are very concerned with it.”

Q. How many people work on the Race?
“Around 100 total go on the Race, the amount of people getting a paycheck from the Race is 2,000 worldwide.”

Q. How many cameras do you have with each team?
“Each team has one camera team, a camera man and soundman.  The camera man is the director, we don’t use producers in that capacity, these are guys I’ve known for many years, they are my front line of storylines.”

 Q. After all this travel, I’m always amazed that people still go on the Race not knowing how to change a tire or misreading directions (taking a taxi instead of walking), etc. After all these trips, you could do an Amazing Race travel tips book. What would be your top travel tips?
“First, you have to bring a great sense of humor, you run into some really bizarre answers from people you cannot expect. You need a passport, along with an inoculation card, I travel with practically no money in my pocket, I travel with a credit card, it’s very effective and nobody can mess with you. I take very little with me. I can go around the world. I’ve got one little carry-on, including a suit for emergency conversations with high officials. I don’t schlep a lot, you can always buy a t-shirt, jeans, don’t bring expensive clothes, shoes, go easy, it helps you in also keeping a low profile which I think these days is absolutely a requirement. You don’t want to stand out with expensive luggage, watches. You make yourself a target.”

Q. Do you watch other reality shows?
“I love Dancing With the Stars, it’s a fantastic show. Reality shows have gotten a little flat, it’s almost feel like we’ve run out of ideas....There’s a learning curve in producing reality TV. There’s a lot of great ideas but I’m not sure they are executed right. I’ve been in this business for a long time. I come from commercial background. I was a commercial director for many many years. Maybe some people underestimate how difficult it is to do something really really good: the storytelling, the drama, the humor, the casting, all that great stuff. A lot of shows fail because storytelling isn’t right. I’ve seen shows that could easily be fixed...[Poor quality shows] ultimately are bad for business. The Amazing Race got six Emmys [for outstanding reality competition ] in a row. That’s good for all reality business. If someone else would win, I’m capable of walking over and saying 'Congratulations.'"

Q. Any places you’ve gone on the Race that you’d like to go back, or you’d recommend?
“For myself, I really like Moscow, It’s such a vibrant city. I’d rather go to Moscow than to Paris; Italy is great: a fantastic place is Sicily.  I could always tell people to go to Chile, people overlook it. The Northern part is desert, the southern part is like Austria, it’s a very beautiful country with wonderful people; Argentina. If you watch the Race on Sunday, we go to Cambodia (pictured above), one of my favorite places right now.

http://blogs.usaweekend.com/whos_news/2008/10/amazing-race-in.html
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: puddin on October 31, 2008, 04:56:06 PM
Good article, thanks for posting peach.

At the Emmy's he and Elise said they were working on a project for Bruckheimer and we would hear about it the following week but, as of yet, notta word.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on December 15, 2008, 08:39:27 PM
Hmmm....Q&A with Bertram and Elise, in upcoming Variety events...

Q&A: Coming Attractions

"Lost" showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof

"Bones" showrunners Stephen Nathan and Hart Hanson

"The Big Bang Theory" co-creator Bill Prady

"Big Love" star Bill Paxton

"CSI" showrunner Carol Mendelsohn

"Amazing Race" creators Bert Van Munster and Elise Doganieri


http://weblogs.variety.com/season_pass/2008/12/big-bang-theory.html#more
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: TARAsia Fan on December 16, 2008, 08:31:59 AM
I read Variety every day. Can't wait to check that out.  :cmas51 :cmas51 :cmas51
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: puddin on January 12, 2009, 07:07:28 PM
"Amazing Race" creators spend $5.5M in Santa Monica

by Cassie Fields, published Monday, January 12 4:15 PM ·


Mr. Van MunsterBertram Van Munster and his wife, Elise Doganieri, bought the three-bedroom, two-bath at 478 21st Place in Santa Monica from Mary Utick for $5.5 million on Nov. 25.

Utick paid $1.928 million for the property in March 2004.

Van Munster is an award-winning Dutch-American television producer and co-creator of the Emmy award-winning CBS reality television show "The Amazing Race." He's won six primetime Emmy Awards for the show.

He was also a field producer on the television series "Cops" and together with his wife, produced Oprah Winfrey's reality show "Oprah's Big Give."

Doganieri is also a co-creator and co-executive producer of CBS reality television show "The Amazing Race."

There have been 497 home sales in Santa Monica in 2008, with a median sales price of $875,000.
 

Address: 478 21st Place
Buyer(s): Bertram Vanmunster and Elise Doganieri
Seller(s): Mary Utick
Sale date: 2008-11-25


http://losangeles.blockshopper.com/news/story/207671/
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: puddin on February 24, 2009, 08:24:00 PM
Oscar-winning DP Van Munster dies
Filmed scenes for 'Traffic,' 'Ape and Super-Ape'
Staff report

Feb 24, 2009, 05:41 PM ET
Anton van Munster, award-winning cinematographer and brother of producer-director Bertram van Munster, died Feb. 11 in Holland after a brief illness. He was 74.

Anton van Munster was the recipient of numerous awards and Oscar nominations for his work. In December, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands appointed him Knight in the Order of Oranje-Nassau.

He filmed many of the key Paris street scenes while working with French filmmaker Jacques Tati on the comedy classic "Traffic" (1971).

Van Munster also worked for many years with Dutch director Bert Haanstra. Together, they received an Oscar nomination for the feature-length documentary "Ape and Super-Ape" (1972) as well as an Oscar and a Golden Bear nomination for the feature-length doc "Alleman" (1963).

Van Munster served as director of photography for the Dutch production company Nature Conservation Films, lensing a number of major wildlife feature films, including "African King," "Serengeti Symphony," "The Leopard Son" and "African Bambi." He worked in Tanzania several months each year and, before he became ill, was working on thje films "War of the Hippos" and "Survivor."

He also had a long professional relationship working with the National Geographical Society and the Wolper Organization.

Van Munster prepared for his professional career by studying cinematography in Rome at the renowned Centro Spirimentale di Cinematografia.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Genie on February 24, 2009, 08:27:32 PM
that's so sad and shocking  :(
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Kiwi Jay on February 24, 2009, 08:34:09 PM
 :( :'( Verry Sad my thoughts are with BVM and wife and child too!
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on February 24, 2009, 09:13:33 PM
Our sympathies to Bertram and his family....
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Jobby on February 24, 2009, 10:25:24 PM
Our sympathies to Bertram and his family....

 :( :'(
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: mswood on February 24, 2009, 11:51:03 PM
Truly sorry for your family's loss.  My sympathies.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: TARAsia Fan on February 25, 2009, 12:08:22 AM
My sympathies to Bertram.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Snooky on February 25, 2009, 07:02:09 PM
So sad!  Blessings to their family.
 :'(
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on July 12, 2009, 09:35:11 PM
Thaqnks to kogs for this find!! :yess:

Elise was a featured speaker at the 2009 LATV Fest Agenda on Tuesday July 8th:

4:15 to 5:15 PM

Westside Room  Main Session: Secrets of the Reality Heavyweights

What are the essential elements for a breakout reality show? We've gathered a group of reality heavyweights – successful producers, network execs, agents – who know a thing or two about creating, developing, selling, producing and maintaining a reality hit. Each will reveal how their hit ideas developed, the snags they hit along the way – and the key insights they had that helped them overcome the inevitable obstacles. We’ll also explore the most important question: Why? Why do some of their reality shows hit it out of the park, while others die on the vine? Are there common lessons to be drawn from the reality heavyweights?

Moderator(s):  Bruce David Klein, President & EP, Atlas Media Corp.
Panelist(s):  Elise Doganieri, Executive Producer, Earthview Inc.;  JD Roth, CEO & Co-Founder, 3Ball Productions;  Bill Hayes, President and Founder, Figure 8 Films;  Nick Emmerson, President, Shed Media U.S.;  David Lyle, President, Fox Reality Channel   


http://www.natpe.org/conference/agenda/
 


Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: apskip on July 13, 2009, 05:53:51 AM
Here is the Doganieri bio for the NATPE:

Speaker Bio
Elise Doganieri
Executive Producer
Earthview Inc.
 Elise Doganieri is Executive Producer and Co-Creator of the Emmy Award winning CBS hit adventure/reality series The Amazing Race. This is the 6th consecutive Emmy win for Outstanding Reality Competition Program (at the 60th Annual Emmys, September 21, 2008). This unique reality series is now in the ranks of such legendary and prestigious Emmy winner shows as “Cheers,” “Frasier” and “West Wing.” The hit reality series continues on CBS in 2009.

Elise was also an Executive Producer and a partner with Oprah Winfrey and her Harpo Productions on the 2008 reality series for ABC, Oprah’s Big Give.

Elise, with her partner, Bertram van Munster runs Earthview Incorporated, a highly regarded television production company based in Los Angeles, which has launched such production companies as World Race Productions (The Amazing Race) and Profiles Television LLC (ABC’s Profiles from the Front Line). Earthview maintains worldwide satellite offices from South America to Africa to Asia.

Elise was also honored with the 2005 much-coveted Producers Guild of America award for non-fiction television during ceremonies in Los Angeles. The series also received a Family Friendly Award in 2005, in addition to award nominations in the reality category from the PGA and GLADD.

Earlier in 2003, she served as Producer for ABC’s critically acclaimed reality series Profiles from the Front Line, which depicted the men and women in the armed forces battling the enemy in the Middle East.

Her other TV credits include serving as Producer and Story Editor for the Wild Things pilot -- which launched the successful Paramount Television adventure series that saw three championship TV seasons with the studio from 1997 to 2000.

Previously, Elise, a native New Yorker, worked as an advertising executive both in Manhattan and Los Angeles for a wide range of top agencies; including Ogilvy & Mather, DDB Needham and Chiat/Day.

In 1994, Elise co-founded New York-based Open-I-Media, a cutting-edge Internet consulting firm that today develops strategies, design and interactive solutions for several Fortune 500 companies.

Elise attended the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City where she received a Bachelor of Fine Art degree, graduating with honors. In 2006 The Fashion Institute of Technology honored her with the Marvin Feldman Award, recognizing achievement in business and technology.

Elise was a featured speaker at the 2007 National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) convention held in Las Vegas, attended by the world’s television community. Also, she addressed the Dynamic Women in Business Conference, held at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

She makes her home in Los Angeles.


What I find most interesting is the statement that Earthview Incorporated owns World Race Productions. I was previously not clear on the relationships between those companies.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Kogs on July 13, 2009, 09:13:02 AM
Now you understand why abc has a stake in tar with jerry bruckheimer
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: harley on August 02, 2009, 08:45:55 PM
Bertram will be doing a talk radio show on August 4th.  I don't know if this is a repeat or not.

Radio interview (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TravelnOnRadio/2009/08/04/Traveln-On-Radio)
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: puddin on August 02, 2009, 09:20:26 PM
I've actually have come across that Blog Radio before harley and think its a repeat/re-air

June 28, 2008   
 
The Creator of the Amazing Race
 On this edition, Ian and Tonya take you around the world with Bertram van Munster, the Emmy-award winning creator of the CBS show The Amazing Race. Then - save at the pump this July 4th weekend by taking to the trail! Learn all about it! Plus - with the costs going up, you need to make the most of your air travel. We've got some great tips to make your next plane ride turbulance-free! 
http://www.talkzone.com/archive.asp?aid=12012
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: puddin on October 19, 2009, 01:32:38 AM
check this out ..

Hot Cuppa Pix! Inside 'Amazing Race' HQ

By Kate O'Hare on October 18, 2009 4:23 PM | No Comments
Today's cuppa: diner coffee with great conversation

A few weeks ago, I cruised by the headquarters of CBS' multiple-Emmy-award winning (including this year) Sunday-night reality/adventure show "The Amazing Race," which is tucked anonymously among corporate office towers not far from LAX.

After an interview for a story pegged to the show's premiere, executive producer Bertrand Van Munster led a tour of the office, during which I took lots of pix of the equipment and show props tucked in here and there all over the open space. Here's a sampling:

Van Munster and the Travelocity gnome...

more here

http://blog.zap2it.com/kate_ohare/2009/10/hot-cuppa-pix-inside-amazing-race-hq.html
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: TARAsia Fan on October 19, 2009, 02:19:18 PM
Awesome stuff! Thanks, puddin.  :hearts: :hearts: :hearts:
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Slowhatch on October 23, 2009, 09:28:27 PM
I'd let this option (http://www.c21media.net/resources/detail.asp?area=74&article=52257) expire.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on September 10, 2010, 09:35:17 PM
BVM and Elise on the Red Carpet at The Reality Cares Achievement Awards as they prepare to accept the Pioneer Award, the night before the Emmy's. Discussion about how TAR "gives back".

Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on September 29, 2012, 01:33:55 PM
A World Traveler (57 Times) on the AndesBy EMILY BRENNAN
Published: September 28, 2012
IF there was anyone who could be forgiven for being unmoved by the sight of the Andes Mountains, it would be Bertram van Munster. As executive producer of the Emmy award-winning reality show “The Amazing Race,” whose new season premieres on Sunday, he says he has circled the world 57 times.

Bertram van Munster, executive producer of “The Amazing Race,” often heads to South America.
But each time he returns to the Andes, he’s dazzled by their stark beauty (and grateful for their proximity to fabulous cities like Santiago, Chile, and Bariloche, Argentina, where luxury hotels can be found).

“What I love is the high level of sophistication of all of these cities,” he said, “and as soon as you leave them you’re on the moon — completely desolate landscape.”

Below are edited excerpts from a conversation with Mr. van Munster on how to explore the daunting terrain of the Andes. 

Q. The Andes run 5,500 miles along the western edge of South America. But with peaks an average of 13,000 feet, there are only a few routes that cross it. Which do you recommend taking?

A. Paso Internacional Los Libertadores, which goes from Santiago, Chile, to Mendoza, Argentina, is the main transport route between the countries, with a lot of trucking on it. That road blew me away — it carves along the jagged ridges of the Andes, and the biggest tankers looks like toy cars. The journey takes only about six hours, and you drive past Mount Aconcagua, about 23,000 feet high. It’s spectacular.

Farther south is a route that takes you from Puerto Montt, Chile, to Bariloche in Argentina’s Lake District. We did our trip in October 2009, so it was springtime, but we fitted the car rental’s tires with snow chains to go over the mountains. It’s wild because at noon, you’re at the top of a mountain, caught in a snowstorm, and by 4 p.m., you’re back in beautiful weather. It’s like being in Siberia one minute, and the south of France the next, the weather changes that rapidly.

Q. How do you pack for such extreme changes in weather?

A. There are two ways of doing it. I travel in clothes for the temperate weather, and I FedEx all of the bulky stuff I’ll need for the mountains like gloves, hats, hiking boots and jackets to the hotel where I’m going to stay. Then, after we cross, I FedEx all that stuff home. Or I buy these things on the spot — there’s always a North Face or some outfitters — and give them to somebody who can use them after I’m done. Very often I give away shoes or hats to someone I worked with.

Q. How do you get used to the high altitudes?

A. About eight years ago, we drove from Lima to Huancayo in Peru, and it was miserable. We were driving 18,000 feet, the same height that airplanes go, literally through the clouds. We made it, but we should have bought some oxygen masks in the city before leaving.

In 2008, I stayed in La Paz, Bolivia, which is at about 11,000 feet. I drank that coca tea the entire time, and I wasn’t affected at all by the altitude. The tea is made with raw leaves from a coca plant, the same one used to make cocaine. But as a tea, it’s a mild stimulant, and it really does keep you from being lightheaded. Once you acclimate yourself to that altitude, La Paz is a beautiful city, with a great downtown area to explore.

One day I saw people jogging, and I said I want to know what that sensation was all about. I got about 300 or 400 yards before it went black in front of my eyes, and I passed out. So the lesson is, don’t push it.

A version of this article appeared in print on September 30, 2012, on page TR3 of the New York edition with the headline: World Traveler (57 Times) On the Andes..

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/travel/a-world-traveler-57-times-on-the-andes.html?_r=0 (http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/travel/a-world-traveler-57-times-on-the-andes.html?_r=0)
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on April 04, 2013, 02:40:59 PM

Bertram van Munster to enter Realscreen Awards Hall of Fame

4 hours ago by Realscreen Staff




Bertram van Munster (pictured), creator of The Amazing Race and a nine-time Emmy award-winning producer/director, is to be inducted into the Realscreen Awards Hall of Fame in Santa Monica this June.

With more than four decades spent developing and producing unscripted content across the globe, van Munster is one of the non-fiction TV industry’s most respected and creative forces.

Together with Elise Doganieri, his producing partner, he runs Profiles Television, which produces The Amazing Race through its subsidiary World Race Productions. The show is currently on its 22nd season for CBS, and – since launching in 2001 – has aired more than 185 episodes, traveling to TV sets in more than 80 countries around the globe.

In a statement, van Munster said: “It’s an honor to receive this award from realscreen, and to be in such good company with past recipients. All of us have been in the trenches since the beginning of reality TV, and are proud to have played a part in the rise of this genre which has captivated audiences for years, and in some cases, for decades.

“The Amazing Race has been an amazing experience, but I know that without the hard work and dedication of a stellar crew around the world, our friends at CBS, and a brilliant executive-producing team, including my partner in work and in life, Elise Doganieri, I would not have the good fortune of receiving this honor from realscreen.

“I am humbled and also eager to continue creating non-scripted TV for fans around the world.”



Read more: http://realscreen.com/2013/04/04/bertram-van-munster-to-enter-realscreen-awards-hall-of-fame/#ixzz2PWcYHzGK (http://realscreen.com/2013/04/04/bertram-van-munster-to-enter-realscreen-awards-hall-of-fame/#ixzz2PWcYHzGK)
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on April 09, 2013, 04:57:54 AM
Bertram van Munster
By Mansha Daswani
Published: April 8, 2013

It’s been ten years since the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which presents the Primetime Emmy Awards, began recognizing reality television with the outstanding reality-competition program category. Since then, The Amazing Race has won that honor nine times (it lost out to Top Chef in 2010). Created by Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri, the series has been on the air since 2001, following teams of two as they race across the globe and participate in challenges inspired by local cultures, with cameras capturing the bickering and breakdowns along the way. In between his globetrotting adventures to scout for new locations for the series, van Munster spoke to TV Formats Weekly about The Amazing Race’s longevity, the art of producing real reality TV, and maintaining the production quality of the brand’s various international adaptations.

TV FORMATS: The Amazing Race has been on the air for 22 seasons now, with barely a dip in the ratings for CBS—how have you been able to keep the series fresh year after year?
VAN MUNSTER: Passion and imagination! [Laughs] I mean, the world is such a special place and people are just marvelous. You get so much energy and so many ideas when you talk to people, when you look at people, when you see how people live. The ideas never stop coming. And it’s not just me, it’s the entire business: the movie business, the television business, everybody gets ideas from what goes on around them. My canvas is a little bigger than most people’s. A lot of people sit at home and think of stuff, I go around the world. I’ll say, oh, there’s a guy with apples in the back of his car, let me go and talk to him. [That led to] the situation in Azerbaijan, with the apple stand [when contestants had to find one specially marked apple in a car full of apples.]

TV FORMATS: Tell me more about the process you go through to map out each season.
VAN MUNSTER: It’s a lot of work. We lay out a route and usually Elise [Doganieri, co-creator and executive producer] and I do this. There’s logic to the route, it’s not random! Once you’ve seen the race and you put a map on the floor and you say they went from here to here to here, it all makes perfect sense, because a) there are planes going there, b) planes are going on a regular basis, and c) they are safe countries—we don’t go to unsafe countries. Once we lay that out we do some basic research, but we’ve been to these places already so we know a little bit about them. And then I go on the road with a very small team and I start picking [locations]. I go back and forth with Elise in the office—this could fit here, we could do this, etc. And then we’ll do another trip and I take my producers with me and I show them all the things I’m planning to do, and then I present it to the network. Hopefully they like it and then we go do it!

TV FORMATS: What do you look for when you’re scouting locations and devising challenges that are inspired by local culture?
VAN MUNSTER: I lay out all the elements that I see in a city—I take a map of the city and I see where everything is. I see how logistically it all makes sense. Logistics, emotions, humor, all the aspects that are part of a fun reality show—how can we fit them into this 44-minute box? The other thing is, every show is completely different and fresh from the one before. So one day we’re in Bangladesh and the next we’re in London; we go to extremes. We go from Siberia, where it’s bitterly cold, where we have them run a marathon in their bathing suits, down to the hottest place in Africa. Juxtapose all these moments and then tie that in with exhaustion and [the effects of eating unfamiliar] food and not having enough sleep and you get more and more drama and more and more stories that way.

TV FORMATS: What do you look for in potential contestants?
VAN MUNSTER: Everybody wants to be on this show—except for the people who want to be on singing shows. [Laughs] We look for people who are between 21 and 100 years old! It’s laid out in such a way that anybody can potentially win this race, as we have seen over the years. It doesn’t take giant muscles; it takes a healthy person with a good set of brains. You have to be calculating and you have to balance your strengths with your partner’s strengths.

TV FORMATS: In a lot of reality shows today, you can sense that people are behaving a certain way for the cameras. In The Amazing Race, how are you able to capture genuine emotions and reactions? Do the contestants forget that the cameras are there?
VAN MUNSTER: They forget it within the first 2 minutes because of the technique I’m using. [Contestants] are used to cameras but there’s so much pressure on them, they have no time to think about the cameras. If you’re in a studio and you see nothing but cameras and people looking at you, yes you’ll [act for the cameras]. For me, a reality show is [where the] camera is the least visible thing. In other reality shows, the camera is the most visible thing in many ways. It should be completely fly on the wall and that’s how we do it and how we’ve done it for many, many years. It’s effective. The contestants are the most important part. There’s room for all of these other very successful shows, but we have no judges, we don’t make judgment calls on people, we don’t tell them, you’re good, you’re bad—we leave that for Santa Claus! People have to win this race on their own power, whether it’s physical or mental. That’s what makes this show, and also why there’s such longevity in the show. People see that and they realize, I could potentially do this.

TV FORMATS: The whole process of traveling has become much more cumbersome in a post-9/11 world. Have you found that the show has become more difficult to produce against this backdrop?
VAN MUNSTER: No, it’s the same. I mean there are places in the world that you obviously can’t go to right now, that doesn’t mean that the people who live there are bad people. In many ways, the dangers of the world have been extremely exaggerated by people that have to make their money in a different way! I feel perfectly safe in many, many countries and people are very friendly and give the shirts off their backs. They’re fascinated by the way we live and by our approach to life and the can-do American way. People have given our contestants money in Moscow and in Bangladesh, [places where] they have no money and they [still] help. I look at these things from a very positive perspective. Can I look at the dark side of all these things? Yes I can. I think maybe we are too focused on that. Not me. I can go anywhere I want to go at this point in my life. And so can the contestants, and we’ve proven this in over 22 seasons.

TV FORMATS: Versions of The Amazing Race have been produced in a number of territories now. When the discussions about formatting the show first began, were you concerned about how they would stand up to the production quality you’ve set for the CBS version?
VAN MUNSTER: We have a very close working relationship with our distributor [Disney Media Distribution]. And we have very close relationships with the people that produce these shows. Actually, most of the [adaptations], we produce ourselves. Yes, [production quality] is a concern, and people that tried to do it on their own ran into trouble. Why would you do this? We had our troubles ten years ago, why repeat [those same] troubles because you think you know it better?
[The format] has been a huge success. We got the International Emmy for the show we did in Australia, and now in China they produced a version and they’ve won an award for best format adaptation. We all keep a very close eye on each other and we support each other as much as we can.

TV FORMATS: Speaking of awards, your Emmy-winning streak has been unprecedented. Why do you think the Academy continues to recognize the series?
VAN MUNSTER: Every year we say, they’re tired of us! But obviously the Academy really looks at the shows, they don’t just give [the Emmy] to us, they say, these guys really deserve it. Otherwise we wouldn’t win. It is a true reality competition. Everyone can relate to it and everyone can do it.

TV FORMATS: What are some of the other projects you’re working on?
VAN MUNSTER: We just finished The Great Escape for TNT and we have a Bellator mixed martial arts series for Spike and we’re negotiating a bunch of other shows for other networks that I can’t mention at this moment. But we are very busy with really fascinating projects.



http://worldscreen.com/articles/display/38690 (http://worldscreen.com/articles/display/38690)
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: slayton on April 09, 2013, 07:23:09 PM
Thanks for the interview, georgiapeach.

My thumb's up to BVM for this answer:
Quote
TV FORMATS: The whole process of traveling has become much more cumbersome in a post-9/11 world. Have you found that the show has become more difficult to produce against this backdrop?
VAN MUNSTER: No, it’s the same. I mean there are places in the world that you obviously can’t go to right now, that doesn’t mean that the people who live there are bad people. In many ways, the dangers of the world have been extremely exaggerated by people that have to make their money in a different way! I feel perfectly safe in many, many countries and people are very friendly and give the shirts off their backs. They’re fascinated by the way we live and by our approach to life and the can-do American way. People have given our contestants money in Moscow and in Bangladesh, [places where] they have no money and they [still] help. I look at these things from a very positive perspective. Can I look at the dark side of all these things? Yes I can. I think maybe we are too focused on that. Not me. I can go anywhere I want to go at this point in my life. And so can the contestants, and we’ve proven this in over 22 seasons.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: theschnauzers on April 09, 2013, 11:09:35 PM
Given that Anthony Bourdain has filmed an episode of his new CNN series "Parts Unknown" in Myrammar (Burma) with no problems (in fact it's one of the first programs to film since the end of military rule), I suspect TAR isn't far behind. It's an alternative to frequently visited China, India, Thailand, and the recently getting overused Indonesia (three of the most recents Races have gone through there).

And it's been closed to travel for over 50 years, so that would be an interesting experience all the way around.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: tarflyonthewall on April 14, 2013, 08:04:50 PM
Quote
TV FORMATS: In a lot of reality shows today, you can sense that people are behaving a certain way for the cameras. In The Amazing Race, how are you able to capture genuine emotions and reactions? Do the contestants forget that the cameras are there?
VAN MUNSTER: They forget it within the first 2 minutes because of the technique I’m using. [Contestants] are used to cameras but there’s so much pressure on them, they have no time to think about the cameras. If you’re in a studio and you see nothing but cameras and people looking at you, yes you’ll [act for the cameras]. For me, a reality show is [where the] camera is the least visible thing. In other reality shows, the camera is the most visible thing in many ways. It should be completely fly on the wall and that’s how we do it and how we’ve done it for many, many years. It’s effective. The contestants are the most important part. There’s room for all of these other very successful shows, but we have no judges, we don’t make judgment calls on people, we don’t tell them, you’re good, you’re bad—we leave that for Santa Claus! People have to win this race on their own power, whether it’s physical or mental. That’s what makes this show, and also why there’s such longevity in the show. People see that and they realize, I could potentially do this.

I don't doubt the show is more 'real' than most other reality shows, but someone should tell the casting people to stop picking people who ham it up - humour's fine when it feels natural (Ken & Gerard), but in recent seasons it feels like they're casting very camera-aware people (the Globetrotters, the cowboys, Brook and Claire, the BB teams, the Chippendales...). I'm not sure his answer really holds up here.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on May 14, 2013, 02:36:37 PM
Bertram van Munster to enter Realscreen Awards Hall of Fame
 

Bertram van Munster (pictured), creator of The Amazing Race and a nine-time Emmy award-winning producer/director, is to be inducted into the Realscreen Awards Hall of Fame in Santa Monica this June.

With more than four decades spent developing and producing unscripted content across the globe, van Munster is one of the non-fiction TV industry’s most respected and creative forces.

Together with Elise Doganieri, his producing partner, he runs Profiles Television, which produces The Amazing Race through its subsidiary World Race Productions. The show is currently on its 22nd season for CBS, and – since launching in 2001 – has aired more than 185 episodes, traveling to TV sets in more than 80 countries around the globe.

In a statement, van Munster said: “It’s an honor to receive this award from realscreen, and to be in such good company with past recipients. All of us have been in the trenches since the beginning of reality TV, and are proud to have played a part in the rise of this genre which has captivated audiences for years, and in some cases, for decades.

“The Amazing Race has been an amazing experience, but I know that without the hard work and dedication of a stellar crew around the world, our friends at CBS, and a brilliant executive-producing team, including my partner in work and in life, Elise Doganieri, I would not have the good fortune of receiving this honor from realscreen.

“I am humbled and also eager to continue creating non-scripted TV for fans around the world.”

In addition to The Amazing Race, van Munster is currently producing Fight Master: Ballator MMA, a new competition series set to premiere on Spike later this year; and in 2012 he produced The Great Escape for TNT.

Other shows include Oprah’s Big Give, Take the Money & Run, and Profiles from the Front Line, all made for ABC.

Prior to Profiles Television, van Munster created and exec produced Wild Things for Paramount Domestic Television. The syndicated adventure series traversed some of the world’s most inhospitable regions. Before that, he served as producer and cinematographer for the first eight years of Fox’s long-running primetime series Cops.

Barry Walsh, editor of realscreen, said: “Bertram van Munster is a true reality television pioneer who has been a major force within the unscripted television revolution from its beginnings, with his work on Cops, to the present day, with the continued success of the groundbreaking adventure competition series The Amazing Race.

“His flair for cinematic production values, combined with action-packed competition, has made The Amazing Race, and Bertram himself, part of TV history. We’re very excited to induct him into the Realscreen Awards Hall of Fame this June.”

Van Munster’s induction into the Hall of Fame comes after producer Thom Beers was last year honored at the ceremony, which was then called the Factual Entertainment Awards.

Watch out for more announcements about the Realscreen Awards and its Hall of Fame inductees in the weeks ahead. The Realscreen Awards take place during Realscreen West in Santa Monica, June 5-6.

http://realscreen.com/2013/04/04/bertram-van-munster-to-enter-realscreen-awards-hall-of-fame/
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on May 14, 2013, 02:39:50 PM
Realsceen's "Meet a Mentor" series is designed to give delegates rare access to some of the top producers in factual programming. Sign up for the opportunity to glean valuable information in an intimate, "off the record" setting, and hear from A-list producers through Q&A about how they charted their paths, faced and met challenges head-on, and learned invaluable lessons along the way. If you've ever asked yourself "How do they do it?", here’s your chance to find out.

*Pre-sign up is required
You may sign up for one (1) Meet a Mentor Session.
Sign up opens Wednesday, May 15th at 11:00 AM (ET) on a first come, first served basis.


Speaking


 Elise Doganieri, Host
Executive Producer
Profiles Television Productions

 Bertram van Munster, Host
Executive Producer
Profiles Television Productions

http://west.realscreen.com/2013/sessions/65939/meetamentorelise/ (http://west.realscreen.com/2013/sessions/65939/meetamentorelise/)
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on May 14, 2013, 02:47:31 PM
ABC has greenlighted a new series by BVM and Elise:
"The Quest"... which has yet to receive a premiere date, pits 12 contestants against one another in a competition set in a fictional place called "Everrealm." The  live-action role-playing takes place in what the network describes as "a land of magic and malevolence, where mythical creatures lurk in the woods, agents of darkness stir in the shadows, and mystical beings infiltrate the keep."

more here: http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,28827.msg878562.html#msg878562
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on May 21, 2013, 01:33:15 AM
THIS!!

Incredible 5 part Interview with Bertram and Elise.

I have noted some of the focus/highlights for each segment, including one jawdropping RFF moment!

Lots of interesting insights, a "do not miss'!

Archive of American Television EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG
Bertram Van Munster & Elise Doganieri Interview

Part 1 of 5 - YouTube
(BVM Early Career) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X3xRbeNhOo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X3xRbeNhOo)

Part 2 of 5 - YouTube
(Elise) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA_g0cui8Tc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA_g0cui8Tc)

Part 3 of 5 - YouTube
(casting+, Laos explained, Antarctica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjEClPKg7Hs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjEClPKg7Hs)

Part 4 of 5 - YouTube
(production+--RFF shout out at 52:30!!)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2BMr--srHY

Part 5 of 5 - YouTube
(other projects)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xQgLrNc-qw
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: ovalorange on May 21, 2013, 06:20:23 AM
I loved listening to every second of those interviews, thanks for posting them peach!

It's so interesting listen to them talk about how the race is planned, produced and edited... so many new stories I hadn't heard before. It's a must watch for any diehard TAR fan, AKA everyone here better watch these!

Oh and please tell me I wasn't the only one who rewinded and listened to Elise say "Reality Fan Forum" over and over again?! :lol3:
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on May 21, 2013, 09:43:31 AM
If I knew how to record a soundbite that would be my new sig, lol!! WhooHoo, they don't hate us! These are awesome, just knowing they really did try to make Antarctica work is amazing!
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Tarfan37 on May 21, 2013, 02:18:42 PM
i love how charla was like i can speak arabic.. then totally gets schooled by betram
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: theschnauzers on May 21, 2013, 05:00:04 PM
This interview is nearly four hours long? Gawd, I'm going have to save the clips from YouTube because that is going to take a while for me to listen to without captions.

But I'm glad to hear we're not on a persona non grata list, and that some of the things we've thought of in the past they have in fact tried to do. (Peach you and I may have been the first to post that suggestion for the All-Stars season, and I still hope that the show will get there some day.)
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Declive on May 21, 2013, 06:44:30 PM
RFF moment? What?
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Alenaveda on May 21, 2013, 07:08:35 PM
RFF moment? What?

Elise does a mention about us in the fourth part of the interview, speaking of the relation between Internet and TAR.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on May 21, 2013, 07:51:00 PM
THIS!!


I have noted some of the focus/highlights for each segment, including one jawdropping RFF moment!



Part 4 of 5 - YouTube
(production+--RFF shout out at 52:30!!)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2BMr--srHY


If all else fails...read the thread! :lol:
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Declive on May 21, 2013, 08:08:01 PM
THIS!!


I have noted some of the focus/highlights for each segment, including one jawdropping RFF moment!



Part 4 of 5 - YouTube
(production+--RFF shout out at 52:30!!)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2BMr--srHY


If all else fails...read the thread! :lol:

That actually passed unseen by my sleepy eyes  :lol3: :lol3: :lol3: Thanks guys!  :kuss:
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: redwings8831 on May 21, 2013, 09:51:23 PM
Just listened to parts 3 and 4. Awesome interview.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: couchracer on May 26, 2013, 12:35:16 AM
Thanks sooo much for the interview info. I loved seeing it.
 I love how Elise came up with the idea, and Bertram connections could make it work.
And Yay to CBS for seeing the potential.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on June 20, 2013, 04:48:20 PM
Emmys: How 'The Amazing Race' Fights the 'Been There, Done That' Syndrome
After 22 seasons, 850,000 miles and close to 100 countries -- and after winning nine of the 10 Emmys for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program -- what hasn't it done?


Published: June 20, 2013 @ 1:10 pm
 
This story appears in TheWrap's EmmyWrap Reality Issue.

It has happened before, and it will surely happen again. The brain trust of “The Amazing Race” will be sitting around a conference table in the show’s headquarters, located conveniently close to Los Angeles International Airport, when one of the newer staffers will come up with an idea.


“We have people who’ve been here since the beginning, and then we’ll have new people come onto the staff,” said Elise Doganieri, co-creator and co-executive producer of the CBS show with her husband, Bertram van Munster.


“The new ones might not have seen or remember every episode, and they’ll say, ‘Oh I have a great idea for a challenge!’

“And we have to say, ‘Nope. We’ve done that.’”

Of course “The Amazing Race” has done that, and been there. After 22 seasons of racing around the world, after 850,000 miles and close to 100 countries and who knows how many bungee jumps and tricky clues and eating challenges and roadblocks and detours and U-turns and fast forwards, and after winning nine of the 10 Emmys that have been given out for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program, what haven’t they done?


And as the era of reality television moves through its second decade, “TAR” is hardly the only show to have that problem.

“Survivor” host Jeff Probst can get through most shows uttering phrases he's already used dozens of times; “Dancing With the Stars” pros like Karina Smirnoff and Derek Hough are probably sick to death of easing a new clumsy celeb through the Paso Doble.

There’s a reason the singing shows are playing musical chairs with their judges -- because when you’re going into double-digit seasons on a show whose format is more or less set in stone, what once seemed novel can start to feel downright pedestrian.

“Keeping it fresh after 22 seasons is a real challenge,” Doganieri told TheWrap, as she and van Munster sat in their production offices surrounded by props and souvenirs from a decade’s worth of global excursions. “There are only so many things you can do, but we have to keep trying to find ways to do it differently.”


“To keep it fresh comes in many different forms,” added van Munster. “It comes in little tweaks, little mechanical tweaks. But it is also the fascination with what are you doing, what are the challenges.”

It’s a tricky balance reality producers must strike -- trying to figure out how much you can change the format that drew viewers to the show in the first place, or how long you can keep it the same before it reaches its sell-by date. While van Munster insisted, “The format doesn’t need to be changed -- it’s been good since the beginning,” Doganieri took a more nuanced view.


“We like to keep the format of the show true to what it has been since Season 1,” she said.

“There’s always a roadblock, detour, pit stop, fast forward, route marker. But sometimes it’s nice to spice things up a little bit and throw the contestants off, so they’re not going into Season 23 thinking, ‘I know what to expect.’ You try to keep the show fresh without changing the format.”


On a travel show like “The Amazing Race,” another problem is that if you go to Paris, you’d better show the Eiffel Tower; if the teams are racing through Sydney, viewers probably want to see the Opera House in there somewhere. “You have to hit the iconic buildings and places and statues,” Doganieri said, “but maybe we’ll be in a scout car and see something you’re going to find in the Let’s Go: Europe book. This is stuff that’s way off the beaten path, the stuff that makes it fun.”

One example from van Munster: “We were scouting in Azerbaijan, driving down some back alley because the driver couldn’t find his way at a market. And what do I see? I see a Russian car filled with apples. The trunk is filled with apples, and the entire back seat and the front, except for the driver’s seat. Filled with 1,700 kilos of green apples. I said, ‘Back up the car -- what is this all about?’ It turns out they have a group of apple salesmen that drive to the market once a week, that come 100 miles from the interior. So we did a challenge with that.”

Even as they prep the show’s 22nd and 23rd seasons, van Munster said he still scouts every location. He and Doganieri are a hands-on producing team on a logistically complex show.

Their LAX-adjacent offices have rooms for planning, rooms for editing, rooms for meetings -- but also an on-site travel coordinator, a person who just handles visas for the contestants and the 70 crew members who hit the road with them, and others to deal with security (which countries should we avoid this month?) and the legal fine print that must be met by a game show that gives away a $1 million prize.


And they do it on a budget that van Munster said was cut significantly by CBS a few years ago. (That means if the race goes through Europe, which is expensive, they have to find cheaper places to save money elsewhere on the route.)

“It’s like planning a military operation,” Doganieri said. “The producers go a week or so in advance to the country the contestants are going to, and they have their checklists: make sure the clue boxes are in the right locations, the safety checks are done, the security team knows what’s happening and where we’re going.”

If the contestants have to make a long drive in a place like India, van Munster added, the production will station ambulances at intervals on the road, just in case of emergency.

“We contact hospitals in the cities and countries where we’re operating,” he said. “We know the names of the doctors and the surgeons. We know the helicopter operators, the numbers of the helicopters we’re using. We know the records of the pilots we’re using.” They also know that if they’re going back to somewhere they’ve been before, they need to find a twist -- though to hear Doganieri tell it, she’d just as soon map out a course full of uncharted territory.

“We have a nice little ceremonial thing that starts off each season,” she said. “Bertram and I sit in what we call our War Room, which is the room where we put up all the creative on the walls. We have a giant map of the world there, and we sit in front of it and talk about where we want to go and where we don’t want to go.”

She laughs. “I always want to go to the most random, bizarre places, and Bertram is always, ‘How are we going to get into and out of there?’ I would love to go to Easter Island. I don’t know what we would do there, but I would love to go.”

“You can fly to Easter Island,” said van Munster calmly. “I just looked into it, as a matter of fact. The problem is you fly there, and then you walk around for a few hours, and then you have to get on the same plane back. And it’s a long flight.”

“But places like that fascinate me,” Doganieri said. “We would love to go to Antarctica. We still haven’t gone to Israel. The list has 50 to 100 more countries where we want to go. We need more seasons. If we keep getting picked up, we will get to all those places.” 

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/emmys-how-amazing-race-fights-been-there-done-syndrome-97856 (http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/emmys-how-amazing-race-fights-been-there-done-syndrome-97856)
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Alenaveda on July 01, 2013, 04:52:26 PM
From THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/02/business/the-drama-of-travel-made-into-television.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

Frequent Flier
The Drama of Travel, Made Into Television
By ELISE DOGANIERI
Published: July 1, 2013

Q. How often do you fly for business?
A. I used to fly all the time, probably about six months out of the year. Now, it’s about twice a month. When we’re filming I can fly every other day and go to nine or 10 countries in three weeks.

Q. What’s your least favorite airport?
A. Heathrow. If you’re switching planes, it can take forever to get to your gate.

Q. Of all the places you’ve been, what’s the best?
A. I love Asia, especially Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. Asia is just very culturally rich, and anyplace I go on the continent is fascinating.

Q. What’s your secret airport vice?
A. I catch up on movies. I think my record is four movies during one flight.

MY very first international trip was on TWA back in 1990. I went to Madrid and went backpacking with my college roommate for about five weeks. I went with $1,000, and we lived on wine, cheese, bread and chocolate. That trip changed my life.

I met my husband, Bertram van Munster, about five years later, and we both loved travel. I remember talking about how travel always has a lot of drama and how you can build relationships. I still keep in touch with people I met on my first trip abroad. So long story short, “The Amazing Race” was born somewhat from our own real love of going places.

I do talk to seatmates on occasion during my trips for the show, but I don’t really tell them exactly what I do. All I will say is that I work in television and I’m traveling for business. Even that takes a while for me to admit. First, I’m very private and where we travel for the show is a secret until it airs. Even my parents have to sign a nondisclosure agreement.

Traveling for the show is a lot of fun. It’s also a lot of work since the logistics are crazy.

But I’m privileged in that my business trips are really out of the norm. My husband and I have a lot of maps of the world in the office, and we try to pick places to film that may not be travel destinations for most Americans.

I’ve had some amazing experiences.

I remember flying from Adelaide to Coober Pedy, Australia, which is the opal capital of the world. I was on this tiny Cessna with four other passengers and one pilot. I decided to take flying lessons when I got home because I couldn’t help thinking what would happen if this one pilot passed out. Fortunately, he didn’t and we wound up filming for one week in underground homes called dugouts, which really are a lot nicer than the name implies.

I was in Botswana in a plane called a Caravan. We were flying over the Okavango Delta while herds of elephants ran throughout the bush. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Flying into Reykjavik, Iceland, was like landing on the moon. Even though it’s only five hours from J.F.K., it’s like no other place on earth.

We took off at night and arrived in the morning to the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen. I’ve also flown apparently to the end of the world when I flew to Punta Arenas, Chile and then onto Ushuaia, Argentina, where I had my passport stamped “The End of the World” on Isla Redonda Tierra del Fuego. That was very cool.

Aside from finding places that are not usual destinations for many Americans, we try to keep things local or culturally significant regarding the challenges that our contestant teams have to perform.

People really seem to enjoy sky diving and bungee-jumping. I went bungee-jumping for the first time in New Zealand during season two. It’s called the Nevis Bungee Jump and you drop about 440 feet. I must have stood on the ledge over the gorge for about five minutes. I knew if I didn’t do it I would regret it. So I did it. I couldn’t even catch my breath to scream. I was out of my mind, but I would do it again.

Sky diving is another story. I told myself I would do it once, and now it’s off my to do list, but more power to our teams and every other person out there who thinks that it’s fun. Jumping out of a perfectly good plane makes absolutely no sense to me.

By Elise Doganieri, as told to Joan Raymond.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: theschnauzers on July 01, 2013, 05:52:43 PM
Apparently Phil isn't the only producer who does the tasks filmed for TAR. That's good to know.

And I can confirm that Elise really doesn't tell people she produces TAR; when I met her and Phil at TARcon 3 a decade ago, I didn't know who she was except that she came to the event with Phil (and they were standing together); I didn't realize it was Elise until later when I saw someone else's posted photos that identified Elise in some of their photos.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on January 09, 2014, 11:33:13 PM
Bertram hs been nominated by the Directors Guild of America for Best Director of a reality show.
Quote
Directors nominated for reality shows include Matthew Bartley for "The
Biggest Loser," Neil P. DeGroot for "72 Hours," Paul Starkman for "Top Chef," J.
Rupert Thompson for "The Hero" and Bertram Van Munster for "The Amazing
Race."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/tv/la-et-st-bryan-cranston-vince-gilligan-grab-dga-tv-nominations-20140109,0,1474391.story#ixzz2pyDA3iwx (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/tv/la-et-st-bryan-cranston-vince-gilligan-grab-dga-tv-nominations-20140109,0,1474391.story#ixzz2pyDA3iwx)
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on January 26, 2014, 01:17:47 PM
^^ Sadly, he did not win.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10597739/Alfonso-Cuaron-and-Vince-Gilligan-win-at-DGA-Awards.html
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Leafsfan. on September 30, 2014, 07:45:46 PM
Amazing Race success an amazing surprise to show creators

BEVERLY HILLS—Bertram van Munster, 74, and Elise Doganieri, 47, are Hollywood royalty, the reigning power couple of quality reality TV. The show they created, The Amazing Race, has become a ratings behemoth as well as a critically acclaimed show, earning its 10th Primetime Emmy Award recently.
The win means the show has swept every award for Outstanding Reality Competition Program except when it lost in 2010 and 2013 to Top Chef and The Voice.
This year, the show bested Top Chef, The Voice, Project Runway, Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance.
“I can assure you we didn’t expect this at all,” said van Munster, somehow managing to look genuinely surprised. “The world is not a bad place.”
The show has spawned more than a dozen international franchises in China, Latin America, Scandinavia, the Philippines and Canada. In the process, van Munster and Doganieri have found themselves ensconced on the Hollywood rich list and have spawned a legion of imitators.
The Star caught up with them as they were putting the final touches on The Amazing Race Season 25, which premieres Sept. 26 on CTV. And they reveal that there is nothing they are prouder of than their Canadian franchise, which became the most watched show in Canada this summer, with best friends Mickey Henry and Pete Schmalz winning $250,000. CTV announced Monday that casting has started for Season 3.
How involved were you with the Canadian edition?
Van Munster: We’re very involved. Phil (King, president of CTV programming and sports) and his team came to Scotland at one point just to see what we were doing before they took it on. It was so smart how they did it. Not surprised they are the No. 1 show in Canada. They looked, they listened. We spent days with them. It’s a very complicated show. Lots of people think they know what they are doing, but they don’t.
Doganieri: You know what I love about the Canadian Amazing Race? They (producers) came down to our office and spent the time to make sure it was spot on. The production value is as high as ours. They have the same standards of integrity and creativity.
Given your schedule and the number of franchises you oversee, do you have time to even watch the Canadian edition?
Van Munster: Yes, as a matter of fact, I just watched an episode this morning. We’re very involved. Canada is important to us. I want to say Canadians are just about the biggest fans of the race.
There was some controversy when the Canadian edition only focused on Canada in what was supposed to be a TV show that traditionally featured the world.
Van Munster: I told these guys, ‘You have a beautiful country with so much diversity. You don’t have to leave, it’s such a spectacular place. Stay in your own backyard.’ I think it worked great.
Why do you think it does so well? Not just in Canada, but internationally.
Van Munster: It’s very relatable to anyone around the globe. Before Amazing Race, we were doing a show called Wild Things. It was also about global adventure. When we got cancelled, we had an infrastructure to produce this stuff. We had a lot of connections, governmental and creative. No reality show was thinking on this kind of global scale. I think the reach of the show, showing so many cultures, is why it is so relatable. When we went to CBS and (network CEO) Les Moonves, he knew I was a credible guy, I wasn’t making this up, that we could deliver a show that people around the world would want to watch.
Casting is key to any reality show. But you guys seem to have made it a science. You were also at the forefront of diversity before other shows, particularly scripted television.
Doganieri: We did it without even thinking about it. We just wanted to know what’s a great cast. We wanted people from different walks of life.

So what’s the secret after all these years?
Doganieri: It’s so hard to tell. We see a casting tape that’s three minutes long and it’s sometimes difficult to imagine that it’s the same person running around the world that you see on television. Sometimes, you still go by your gut after all these years.
Much has been made of diversity in casting. Sometimes reality producers do stunt casting to get different people in one place to create conflict. You seem to have taken the high road on that.
Van Munster: If you know what you’re doing, you don’t have to cast for conflict or tell them to make conflict. If you cast it right, there will be conflict. Because if you and I get in a car, you will want to go right and I will want to go left.
Doganieri: It’s human nature.
Van Munster: I think it’s confidence. If you’re not sure of yourself, some people, they think they have to interfere with the process and jazz it up. We have not done that. Viewers can tell what is authentic. That is why they relate to the show.

Amazing Race Canada Season 2 is off to a strong start. And you’re already getting ready to launch the U.S. version in September. What can you tell us about it?
Van Munster: I think it’s a very strong season. It’s very original. We did bring in all new contestants. It’s a brand new route and several countries we have never been before.
Doganieri: Seriously, this is the most competitive group we have ever seen.
That’s saying a lot coming from you.
Doganieri: Yes. They are on total adrenalin. They studied the show. Some of them had statistics. One of the teams analyzed everything like a science project. This season is high energy insanity.

Source:http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/2014/09/25/amazing_race_success_an_amazing_surprise_to_show_creators.html
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Jobby on October 14, 2014, 02:11:09 PM
Everything You Wanted To Know About How They Make 'The Amazing Race'
The Huffington Post    | By Suzy Strutner

In the often dodgy realm of reality television, "The Amazing Race" is a shining beacon of quality. While other shows tend to turn tangled, tacky or just downright scripted, "The Amazing Race" holds to a standard that few have matched. The televised race around the world -- now in its twenty-fifth season! -- has won 15 Emmys, including 10 for "Outstanding Reality-Competition" -- a reality program's top honor.

Elise Doganieri accidentally birthed the idea for the show while complaining to her now-husband, producer Bertram van Munster, about how "there were no good shows on TV." He challenged her to come up with something better. She remembered the pains and joys of backpacking Europe after college with a best friend. Why don't we do something like that?

A star was born -- one that would permanently change how we perceive travel.

"The Amazing Race" has visited an estimated 82 countries on six continents over the years. And with one host, 22 contestants per season and as many as 2,000 crew members around the world working on the show at any given time, there is a lot to coordinate. HuffPost Travel talked with Elise Doganieri, now the show's executive producer and a co-creator along with her husband, about the logistics of weaving such an intricate, time-sensitive and travel-heavy program.

Turns out the system is a lot more nonchalant -- but no less complex -- than you might think. Here's how they do it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To plan the route, they literally just play with a massive map on the wall.

Doganieri and van Munster start as any masterminds of a 30-day world tour would: in a place they call The War Room, with a wall-size map of the planet. And very little is off-limits. "We think, 'what's exciting?,'" Doganieri says. "'Where haven't we been?'" To that end, the couple has multiple shoeboxes of old passports -- Doganieri estimates her husband has filled more than 25 of the extra-large kind.

They visit EVERYWHERE first.

After mapping out a basic route, van Munster scouts the actual locations while Doganieri stays home to cast the teams. On his scouting tour, van Munster might talk with hotels, meet with local producers or survey spots for the show's famous Roadblock challenges. When he comes back, Doganieri has a slate of contestants ready to go. That's when the couple heads to The War Room, where every episode of the season gets mapped out on a wall along with Roadblocks, challenges and Pit Stops. It's a giant puzzle of the most exhilarating kind.


Doganieri and van Munster at Al Jahili Fort, United Arab Emirates during Season 23

Crews are staked out in every country ahead of time...

After being in the media business for decades, van Munster has production contacts all over the world. The show works with "local facilitators" in each season's host countries to coordinate filming permits, hotel rooms, translators and hire local cameramen, who take extra shots to supplement the cameramen that travel with the teams. By this point, "each country has all the details about what we have to do," Doganieri says. "It's kind of like a military operation."

...but the cameramen must be within 20 feet of contestants, no exceptions.

Doganieri is adamant that "The Amazing Race"'s traveling camera and sound crew is the show's secret weapon. "They don't get enough credit," she says. "They're running with a camera. They're the best at what they do." This involves staying within 20 feet of the contestants at all times -- every team of two contestants is assigned a cameraman and sound technician, who must be present with them for all plane flights, cab rides and mad roadside foot races. The show's story team follows too, to keep track of emerging plot lines and start the editing process even as the race continues to unfold.


Cameraman Alan Weeks films two contestants at Eastnor Castle, England during Season 17.

Sometimes, they have to pull last-minute location swaps in the middle of the desert.

Yup, like when a sandstorm hit Tunisia during Season 1. "We had this beautiful Pit Stop, and everyone was dancing around the campfire," Doganieri remembers. "Then we got an alert for a sandstorm, and tents starting to wobble." The crew and contestants were forced to pack up in the middle of the night, drive 50 miles to a tiny hotel, and double-bunk until morning. THAT became the episode's new, impromptu Pit Stop. Whatever pops up, there's no stopping in a race as meticulously planned as this. "When nature happens, you just have to change plans," Doganieri says.

The crew has missed flights before, putting them behind the contestants.

About 10 seasons ago, Doganieri recalls, the contestants were on their way to Italy when the production crew's flight was cancelled. The crew had no flight and only hours to traverse Europe before filming resumed. After quick work with the show's travel coordinator, they hopped a bus, rode for 11 hours and made it to the location just in time. "We've been very lucky," Doganieri says. But contestants haven't always been so charmed. "Once, a team missed a flight and got so far behind that the show had to eliminate them in the airport," she says. Another took nine hours to complete a challenge in Switzerland Sweden  :res: -- and the production schedule just didn't allow enough time for them to keep trying. "We had to go out in the field in the dark and say, 'You're done.' It was really sad."

The crew gets to test every stunt.

While the camera and sound crew travels with the contestants, the production team usually gets to each pit stop about two days before, Doganieri says. They'll do run-throughs at each location and test Roadblock challenges so they're ready to go -- this includes physically assembling desks in the world's largest IKEA, boating, biking and even bungee jumping in New Zealand.


Doganieri scouts locations for Season 23 at Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska.

Contestants are truly booking their own flights, in real time.

Producers will reserve tickets for the first episode, but after that contestants are on their own. You'd think producers would give them a little help -- but Doganieri says all her team does is monitor flights to anticipate which ones contestants are likely to take. After reading a clue, contestants will search on computers or run straight to the airport ticket counter, begging for the speediest route. "It's completely organic," Doganieri says. "Sometimes they'll find deals that get them there 20 minutes earlier by hopping from flight to flight. And we're just like, 'Wow.'"

Contestants are terrible at reading clues.

Doganieri says she's routinely surprised at how contestants rush through clues -- even though producers might tweak them for clarity on location after running through the challenges. "Contestants will read two lines and just start running," Doganieri says. "We're always saying to each other, 'Read your clue!'"

And the secret to winning? Be nice.

Doganieri says her favorite contestants -- and those that tend to be most successful -- take time to smile at locals, ask politely for help and show respect for the culture of the country they're racing through. This can result in game-changing advantages. "If you give just a little respect," Doganieri says, "you will get it back tenfold."

For more behind-the-scenes peeks, follow @EliseDoganieri on Twitter. "The Amazing Race 25" airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on CBS.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/the-amazing-race_n_5946176.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000032

(Think this has been posted somewhere as well?)
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: theschnauzers on January 14, 2015, 12:51:24 PM
Bert has been nominated (again) by the Directors Guild of America for their 2015 DGA Awards in the category of Reality Television -- But it wasn't for TAR!
Elise was also nominated (for the first time) in the same category.
Bert and Elise's nomination was for an episode of "The Quest," which aired this past summer on ABC. Jack Cannon was also included as a nominee for the same episode.

http://deadline.com/2015/01/dga-awards-tv-nominations-full-list-1201349859/
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Alenaveda on June 24, 2015, 10:09:39 PM
Bertram van Munster on 'The Amazing Race': "Instrumental in Bringing People Together Around the World"

by Annie Howard - 6/24/2015 11:30am PDT

"I think that 'The Amazing Race' is almost like a business card around the world to show that we are actually nice people, and we're good people."

"They're so obsessed with racing that this kind of stuff almost doesn't occur," producer Bertram van Munster told The Hollywood Reporter during its Reality Emmy Roundtable, referring to the absence of typical reality drama on his show, The Amazing Race. "[The show] is all done in real time so, no, we don't have these moments."

Van Munster prides himself on being one of the early pioneers of developing franchises of reality television. "In the beginning, nobody ever heard of reality until Mark [Burnett] and myself showed up on the scene, and there was the brave Les [Moonves] who saw the potential of this and said, 'These are franchises,' which was miraculous. This was 15, 16 years ago when nobody had ever heard of this. The only show that was on was Cops."

"I also think that The Amazing Race is almost like a business card around the world to show that we are actually nice people," says the 10-time Emmy award-winning producer. "We're good people. It's phenomenal when you bring people really together. I think The Amazing Race has been instrumental in being a good partner around the world, and bringing people together."

The producer joined Nigel Lythgoe (So You Think You Can Dance), Burnett (Survivor, Shark Tank, The Voice), Julie Chen (Big Brother), Craig Piligian (The Ultimate Fighter) and Cat Deeley (So You Think You Can Dance) for the Roundtable, where the producers and hosts shared what it takes to create content that has lasted more than a decade in a genre that seemed like a fad.

The full Reality Roundtable can be seen on Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter when it premieres Sunday, Sept. 13, at 11 a.m. ET/PT on Sundance TV and HollywoodReporter.com.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bertram-van-munster-amazing-race-804197
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on July 02, 2015, 03:37:53 PM
Featuring panels with Hollywood's biggest names and potential 2015 Emmy(R) nominees..... the first seven episodes of the series will begin premiering Sunday, August 2nd at 11:00 a.m. ET/PT. They will air weekly in the lead up to the 2015 Emmy(R) Awards on Sunday, September 20th. ...The panels present the guests' thoughtful, candid and often hilarious (and sometimes off-color) conversations about the entertainment industry today.

 The first half of season one of "Close Up With The Hollywood Reporter" will premiere as follows:


#7. Sunday, September 13th: Reality Mark Burnett (Survivor, Shark Tank, The Voice) Julie Chen (Big Brother) Cat Deeley (So You Think You Can Dance) Nigel Lythgoe (So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol) Craig Piligian (The Ultimate Fighter) Bertram Van Munster (The Amazing Race)


http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Lena-Dunham-More-Set-for-Sundance-TVs-New-Series-CLOSE-UP-WITH-THE-HOLLYWOOD-REPORTER-20150702#
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on October 01, 2019, 10:19:20 PM
New Interview!

Mansha Daswani  2 days ago   

https://worldscreen.com/tvformats/bertram-van-munster-2019-09/


Ahead of jetting off to a “very remote place” as he plots his new National Geographic series Race to the Center of the Earth, Bertram van Munster, co-creator of The Amazing Race, talks to TV Formats about the long-running franchise and its enduring appeal in the U.S. and across the globe.

TV FORMATS: Twitter didn’t exist when the series premiered in 2001. How has social media changed how you make the show?
VAN MUNSTER: When we started, we wanted to keep everything a secret. That turned out to be impossible! You can’t yell at people in an airport and say, don’t take a picture of my cast! My lightbulb went on and [I realized], we have a diamond in the attic and nobody gets to see it. Why don’t we let it all out in the open? Then we can take advantage of social media. [In season 25] we started in Times Square in New York—you can’t be more in the center of the universe than in Times Square. There were hundreds and hundreds of people taking pictures, which were all over social media. It worked! We went from keeping things a major secret to putting things out in the open, and it’s just been much more effective. We take full advantage of social media wherever possible. And they take advantage of us. It’s a good marriage.




Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: Leafsfan. on October 20, 2020, 05:45:46 PM
Very interesting interview with BVM, Phil and ED.

-BVM says "many times" multiple editions have run into one other while filming
-BVM says "they have been to most of the stans" and proceeds to list of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, neither of which has been visited  :lol:
-ED confirms TAR19 Laos leg was moved to Thailand.
-BVM says Sri Lanka was cancelled and replaced with the "Emirates", I'd suspect this was for 31?
-33 had perhaps Austria, Vietnam, "South America" on the route, as per BVM

and more!

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/amazing-race-paley-front-row-132301080.html
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: RachelLeVega on October 20, 2020, 11:36:03 PM
Very interesting interview with BVM, Phil and ED.

-BVM says "many times" multiple editions have run into one other while filming
-BVM says "they have been to most of the stans" and proceeds to list of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, neither of which has been visited  :lol:
-ED confirms TAR19 Laos leg was moved to Thailand.
-BVM says Sri Lanka was cancelled and replaced with the "Emirates", I'd suspect this was for 31?
-33 had perhaps Austria, Vietnam, "South America" on the route, as per BVM

and more!

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/amazing-race-paley-front-row-132301080.html
They were probably doing some site scouting in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, but decided not to run with it.
Title: Re: Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri NEWS
Post by: georgiapeach on November 13, 2020, 05:42:34 PM
I think we had some answers in spoilers.. I think there may have been something going on in Sri Lanka...riots or weather maybe? Will need to look back.