The real Laguna?

Suzie Harrison

Laguna Beach might be known around the world as an artist community,

but around town it remains a tiny enclave of creative people who

claim the village as their own.

Plenty of locals fear things are about to change as millions tune

in to MTV’s “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County,” which makes its

premiere at 10:30 p.m. Sept. 28.

The question is, will Laguna Beach ever be the same? After viewing

a rough cut of the first episode, the answer is: Probably not.

“Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” is a reality series that

follows eight Laguna Beach High School students. Filming began in

February 2004, when two of the cast members were juniors Talan

Torriero and Kristin Cavalleri. The other six were seniors -- Lauren

Bosworth or Lo, as called in the show, Christina Schuller, Morgan

Olsen, Stephen Coletti, Trey Phillips and Lauren Conrad, or LC.

“The idea for this was to capture the life of real kids, in a real

environment, telling their stories in the visual language of

narrative dramas instead of documentary,” MTV Executive Producer Tony

DiSanto said.

MTV looked out there, looked at the reality of “The OC” and wanted

real kids, real lives and real issues that they go through.

The idea came from Liz Gateley, MTV vice president of development.

She pitched it, and they thought it was a fantastic idea.

“The next step was to execute, to find a group of kids and a town,

and Laguna Beach was a perfect spot,” DiSanto said. “We saw the high

school and met some of the kids and found this clique -- it all

happened really quickly.

“We always knew that we wanted the focus to be on one town and a

finite group of friends. Subconsciously, I think we were looking for

a clique. I think it makes it easier from a production angle -- it

worked out perfectly.”

Fortunately for MTV, the students’ friends and families were open

to having their private lives on film, but the early days of

production brought controversy to the Laguna Beach Unified School

District. Board members initially agreed to let MTV film on campus,

until parents found out. At that point, open discussions about the

show led the board to deny MTV access to Laguna campuses. There no

hard feelings, DiSanto said.

“Working with the school board was fantastic,” DiSanto said. “We

respected their decision about not shooting on the school grounds,

that it would be disruptive to classes. We were fine with that. It

still worked out great. We always want to make sure everyone is very

comfortable, and we respect all decisions made like that.”

That left the rest of Laguna Beach as their stage.

“There were tons of spots at the public park by the Montage, Main

Beach, both the ice cream shops in town, and Ruby’s Diner became a

main place, as well as Surf and Sport, where Stephen works, and

Pomodoro,” DiSanto said. “[The kids] hit every spot in town and did a

lot of shopping, predominately in Laguna Beach.”

Outside areas like Fashion Island made the cut as the cast

traveled around Orange County.

DiSanto stressed that “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” is

not a movie or scripted drama. It’s real kids with real lives who all

hang out together.

“And it’s a real place -- Laguna,” DiSanto said. “And what is so

cool about the show is that it’s real. Laguna Beach looks like a

dream life -- even though it might look like a picturesque and

idealistic town, the show looks at issues the kids go through.

They’re pretty universal.

“Working with the kids has been a dream, the crew has been

phenomenal, and the city is a dream. The city has been helpful and

phenomenal working with us.”

While the city has been helpful, there are still some Laguna Beach

High School students concerned about how Laguna Beach will be

portrayed.

Marisa Reisman was a senior while they were filming.

“It was weird to walk in a party and there’s a camera in your

face,” Marisa said. “It’s an interesting thing -- I wonder how they

will portray Laguna Beach and if it will be seen as superficial,

snobby and rich -- hopefully not.”

Marisa’s younger sister, Kimmie Reisman, 15, was a freshman when

the show was filmed.

“I’ve talked to them before, and I think it’s interesting that

they are portraying that group as a clique,” Kimmie said. “Most of

the time they were doing their own thing with other friends. Most of

the [cast members] are nice people, and I’m not too scared of what

they’ll be showing. I’m sure the show got them closer together. They

are probably really good friends now.”

Kimmie said she would go to the beach and would see them filming

and positioning the cast.

“They would say [to the cast], let’s move over here, the light is

much better,” Kimmie said. “They would set up the situation and let

them rip, let them talk.”

Becky Johnson was a senior at Laguna Beach High School last year.

She said she saw a lot of it being filmed and said the cameras

weren’t too intrusive.

“I was around some of the filming at the beach and at different

people’s houses, and a lot of times I was in the background,” Becky

said. I’m hoping it shows Laguna Beach in a positive light. MTV likes

to focus on the negative things that sell.”

The format for the show is a new one for MTV. There’s no shortage

of reality shows, but DiSanto said this time is different.

He said they tried to tell the story without reverting to a

documentary style, voice-overs, scripts and, of course,

confessionals.

“It was a big experiment,” DiSanto said. “There wasn’t a format

for a show like this, no blueprint. We were treading on new ground.

It’s creative, and it was both exciting and scary.

“We followed them from the middle of school to prom, graduation

and summer -- and going off to college, except the two juniors,”

DiSanto said. “It literally took thousands of hours, with two to

three cameras on the kids each time we did a shoot, and it would last

all day.

“I’m so close to it,” DiSanto said. “It’s sort of our little baby.

Now we’re giving it to the whole world to see. We’re proud of it

creatively. We broke new ground.”

There will be 10 to 12 episodes, and if all goes well, DiSanto

said there is the possibility of continuing the story through

secondary characters or by following the students who were juniors

during filming.

Shooting wrapped at the end of August, and soon it will be time

for the audience to decide whether the show reflects the real O.C. or

not.

Cast member Stephen Coletti seems to think so. In the first

episode, he is looking at Lauren Conrad’s new palatial mansion being

built.

“Dude this is so gnarly,” Coletti said. “It reminds me of the

houses on ‘The OC.’”