It's been over ten years since high-stakes reality gem Laguna Beach premiered, and exactly a decade since its spin-off The Hills hit our screens. But in years since the two iconic reality shows went off the air, cast members and producers have been plagued with questions as to whether or not the show was scripted.
Recently the shows' creator, Adam DiVello, and producers Tony DiSanto and Sean Travis, sat down with Refinery29 to explain exactly what they did to create the iconic show and got super frank about what was real and what was fake.
What Was Real
The Story Lines
LAUREN & JASON: Did Lauren really have to choose between Paris and Jason? And was it really as big a deal as the angsty way it played out on your screen?
According to the producers, yes. They insist that the story lines were, overall, authentic. "These kids really were going to school for fashion, and they really were trying to be designers," DiVello explained. "If we wrote the show, we would have had much bigger story lines than what we were dealing with... gigantic, soap-opera-type story lines. We were kind of shackled to the reality of what these people's situations were."
In fact, when Lauren turned down Paris to stay with Jason, the producers were super disappointed. "We as producers thought, 'How great is this? Lauren is having all of this trouble with Jason. She's broken up with him, and there's an opportunity in Paris to go work there in the summer. This is totally like The Devil Wears Prada; it's great.' We'll go to Paris; we'll shoot an episode or something…and Lauren just didn't want to do it," DiVello dished.
"The way we finally thought it through was that people do make mistakes in life. Women do choose the wrong guy; guys choose the wrong girl," he went on to share. "We make these decisions for all the wrong reasons, and so we just thought of a very cinematic way to tell the story."
OTHER FRIEND/RELATIONSHIP DRAMA: According to the producers, Justin Bobby really did cheat on Audrina too many times to count, and Lauren really did fall out with Heidi Montag over her new boyfriend, Spencer Pratt.
Lauren's Single, Solitary Mascara Tear
You know that moment that's been GIFed into cyber-history?
Though they do admit to slowing it down in trailers to lay on the drama, that moment of vulnerability after an argument with Audrina wasn't manipulated. "The mascara thing just happened, and it became a thing... they kind of became Lauren's hallmark… We got so many letters that were like, 'Why didn't she wear waterproof mascara?,' and I never could answer that. I didn't know."
Thank goodness Lauren passed on the waterproof makeup, btw.
What Was Fake
Some of the Cast
The producers admit they cast some girls for the drama. Apparently, producers found Whitney Port during a casting call for interns to be Lauren's bestie at work. Also, Audrina was a model who lived in Lauren's apartment building the producers approached when they were scouting the location for shooting.
Long, Emotional Stares
At least once an episode, characters would go to a dinner and say, like, 12 words to one another that meant nothing. But then they'd say SO MUCH with their faces. Sure, they may have only raved about the sushi in that one scene, but did you SEE the way they looked at each other?! They're clearly in love, right?! Well, as it turns out, the producers may have fudged how passionately some cast members were looking at each other.
"You can really rewrite a scene or bring out if there's, like, a spark between two characters when we shoot an hour-long dinner with them, and we want to condense it to a 45-second or two-minute scene," explained Travis. "We very carefully craft it to see the spark of attraction."
Some Scenes
The producers stand by everything being real, but they'll admit to reshooting some critical moments. "We've been very open about the fact that we've reshot scenes that we missed," admitted DiVello. "[If] stuff happens off camera, or stuff happens on the weekends, or when we weren't shooting, we would go back and get it on camera. So, if Audrina heard that Justin Bobby was off doing something that she ain't happy with, we'd have her sit down and tell Lauren about it, just so that we have it on camera. But it really happened. It wasn't like we wrote it."
Kristin Cavallari's Season of The Hills
The reason Kristin's season seemed so OTT was because A) Kristin was a more outspoken person than Lauren and B) she was way cooler with playing the reality TV game than Lauren, according to Travis.
"Lauren carried the show in so many ways. I was trying really hard to allow it to be continued without her. I think Kristin coming in was a big help," Travis explained. "Kristin is just willing to make a TV show. Although she was never handed a script, she just has a sensibility about, 'Hey, let's go out and put on a good show.' So she'll date people; she'll throw down the drama. Those are all real things for her, but she's like, 'Sure, game on.'"
He goes on to explain that while Kristin would be open to shooting many takes of a particular moment, Lauren would often shut down requests to do more takes because it was a reality show.
So there you have it. As Lauren Conrad would say:
Read more juicy behind-the-scenes deets about what went into making MTV's most iconic reality shows over at Refinery29.
When I'm not holed up in my room going on a completely unproductive Netflix binge or Tumblr stalking Timothée Chalomet, I'm searching for awesome celeb news stories that Seventeen readers will love!
