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Interview with Diana Preisler of Lifetime’s “Pitch Slapped”

What drew you to participate in this project?

Two years ago, my husband and I partnered with a NYC production company that was tasked with developing a new reality series for Lifetime. At first, they were very interested in developing a show around Blue Jupiter following our life as a professional, working a cappella group. Camera crews followed my group around, filming our rehearsals and performances. During the process of filming that pilot, Lifetime became interested in Blue Jupiter’s A Cappella University.

They loved our high school residency program where we help create, develop, workshop, and coach a cappella groups. From there, the basic concept of Pitch Slapped was born. As the new pilot came together, Lifetime was sold on the concept of documenting the coaching process of high school a cappella, and me as a primary character. After the show was green-lit, the format changed several times, eventually pulling in a second coach and making competition the vehicle for telling the story of two rival high school a cappella groups and their coaches.

Blue Jupiter has been down the reality TV show road previously, so when Lifetime was interested in our educational programming, this opportunity felt like a great match, something we could get really excited about. There are so many great things happening in contemporary a cappella at the high school level. I was psyched that the network wanted to dig into the rewarding work we’ve been doing for 15 years.

How much input did the groups' actual directors have in the performances while you were filming the show? Were they even around at all??

Each group’s director should be credited with creating and nurturing strong a cappella programs at their school. Clearly, each group was selected to be on this TV show because of their efforts. However, as far as the TV show was concerned, at least with Highlands, their music director was not involved in the production of Pitch Slapped in any way. He was on set many days during rehearsals as their chaperone, monitoring the kids’ hours they spent on camera at the rehearsal space. He was not involved with any of the creative or coaching process on or off camera in connection to the show.

Have you kept in contact with any of your kids since you wrapped filming?

Yes of course! I love my kids in Highlands Voices. Most of them are in college now, but I had the pleasure of inviting them to perform as a headliner at SingStrong NY this month. I always say they are the hardest working kids I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, and I have so much admiration for them. They endured the pressure of weekly competitions, learning new material every 5-7 days and they did it all of it on-camera, in addition to being great people to the core. Surviving all that transpired on and off camera, many of us are bonded for life.

People have been using the hashtag #RLPP meaning Real Life Pitch Perfect, the only difference being that these are high school kids not collegiate a cappella groups... Why do you think people have been making that connection?

I think #RLPP is largely used in an ironic, joking way, across social media. This is true, particularly by people who are familiar with contemporary a cappella. Because of Pitch Perfect’s success, the movie title became a reference point of all things a cappella in pop culture, ad nauseam. Every media outlet that ran a story about a local, live a cappella event would dub it the “Real Life Pitch Perfect.” It’s an insider’s chuckle.

What can viewers expect from the Season Finale tonight???

After 8 weeks, I think we find out what really drives the Highlands Voices and the “TeamDiana” machine.In the beginning of the season, I inducted Highlands Voices into TeamDiana’s boot camp (No, I was not re-naming the group, as people would like to believe. The way it was introduced on TV made it look like that, but for me, it was more akin to going to an "a cappella camp" and wearing an "a cappella camp” T-Shirt and committing to my process, rather than rebranding the team. I clearly refer to them as Highlands Voices in every episode). Tonight the kids will bring their best performance to the stage, rivaling “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” in Ep 4. Hopefully viewers will understand their journey as performers, and as people. They have been accused of having no heart, but I think viewers will see that Highlands Voices indeed has heart, and their hearts are filled with love and passion for a cappella and each other.

As for Stay Tuned, I can tell you that the kids’ final performance is great. My contact with them was limited all summer (at the request and control of producers) so every week I’m watching their story unfold every week along with the viewers.

Outside of a cappella circles and your involvement with Blue Jupiter you were relatively unknown. Has this mainstream exposure made people recognize you on the streets?

Before Pitch Slapped, people would often recognize my speaking voice. I’ve been a voice actress for 15 years, heard as the voice of countless companies networks, and even animated characters that you know and love. Sometimes I’d strike up a conversation with a stranger and they might say something like “you sound so familiar" to which I would usually respond with something like “Coming up next on HGTV” and I’d get a total kick out of their reactions to that.

Touring with Blue Jupiter and performing on National Broadway tours has, at one time or another, presented some public recognition, but nothing compared to the result of my participation on Pitch Slapped. This show has made the casual trip to the mall or grocery store one that usually results in selfies and hugs. Whenever I’m recognized, the fans of the show are very warm and supportive; everyone wants to see a season 2.

The edit of you on the show makes you seem mean spirited and bitchy and people on Twitter have even resorted to referring to you as a "bully" was it ever your intention to be seen as "The Villain?”

I don’t think I came across mean spirited or bitchy. Passionate? Yes! Dedicated to the kids and the process? 100%! Emotionally invested? Sure! Bully, no chance. Although the 1st episode is edited for the most drama to set the tone, I don’t think my story unfolded that way over the course of the season. My experience on social media is largely supportive and positive. There are close to a million people (with the +7 ratings) that tune into this show over the course of the week, and just about everyone I come across online loves the show, loves the kids and enjoy seeing the night and day difference between the coaches.

There’s a fundamental disparity in our society when analyzing leadership roles of men and women. When a woman is strong and outspoken, she is often perceived as villainous or overbearing and dramatic. However, when a man is acting in the same manner, he is perceived as justified tough love.

Is a "Villainous, mean-spirited, bitch” (as you put it) someone who demands hard work, gives impassioned pleas for success, and gives spirited commentary about being the best you can be? Or is it someone who gives disparaging remarks about their team, but with a calm collected delivery?

I never insulted or condemned any member of Highlands Voices or Stay Tuned. Outside of saying that my group’s choreography is a hot mess, or that I expect my singers to fight for opportunities instead of just having it handed to them, my criticisms have only been about the choices the other coach made for his group.

If you’re listening only to the a cappella community at large, you can hear some of them clench their teeth when I say things about the other coach on screen. I’m well aware of his credits and accomplishments, but that doesn’t mean I have to agree with what he put on stage every week. When presenting information for the viewer, you must reduce the commentary to its simplest form. For instance, Producers love it when you say “his skits are bad” and hate it when you say, “his choreography choices don’t enhance the underlying message of the song nor the diverse nature of the ensemble, who seem to be singing a complex, yet ineffective arrangement.” I understand the needs of reality TV. I was willing to play ball and simplify the message, in order to benefit the show. Viewers love high stakes, they love drama, and they love a good sound bite. That’s what makes for good television.

And then there is a small collection of adults, leaders in the a cappella community, some who have never met me, most who have never worked with me, who are using their social podium to discredit the show, the process, and me. (You’re right, I haven’t published 2000 arrangements. You’re wrong, I can read music. No, I don’t play piano very well. Yes, I’ve been in professional a cappella for almost 15 years. And if you want to know what my priorities are, its pretty obvious I dedicate my life to charity work and a cappella.)

Many of the criticisms of the show are centered around this: they don’t show more of the process of creating and coaching a cappella music.

TV is an interesting beast. The music geeks of the world (myself included) would love to sit down and watch a 60-minute masterclass on the intricacies of creating excellent a cappella music every week. Give us vowel shapes, intonation exercises, breath-support technique all day long. This (nearly) immeasurable minority would love to see (and hear) the difference of tuning a chord and hearing it ring like a barbershop quartet vs. an equal-tempered piano. Even the process of learning the notes on the page, and work-shopping dynamics, and then seeing that translate to a live performance - All of this stuff is what we, as a music-educated community, would LOVE to watch. But I have bad news for you. The viewing audience simply does know what a crescendo is. And moreover, they don’t care.

Look at episode 7 and the extensive lesson Stay Tuned received in dynamics, white-board and all. I’m sure that lesson was advanced-level aca-dynamics. That scene encapsulates what TV viewers think of that level of detail. SNOOZE!

There are a couple reasons for that.

1) TV is a visual medium. You can quickly see if something looks right or wrong, visually. (that’s why dance shows are so successful) But it is exponentially difficult to HEAR when something is right or wrong. TV shows are produced to cater to that basic understanding.

2) Time is limited. Let's take the simple musical concept of a crescendo. Yes, you can explain a crescendo. And maybe you can give the definition of crescendo, “teach” it to the ensemble, and provide 2 examples for them to sing over the course of 120 seconds (and that would be FAST). You’ve just spent 5% of your air time teaching something that doesn’t add to the story, or reinforce the stakes.

My point is that a cappella really thrives in the nuance... TV doesn’t.

Did the producers encourage you to be as harsh as you were or was it just your intense personality coming off on camera?

The producers wanted to convey the rivalry, so they were supportive of me being critical of the other coach. The show is designed for viewers to take sides. That’s what keeps viewers invested and tuning in week after week.

If you know me, you’d probably describe me as a very positive, very passionate, driven person who will work 23 hours a day on something I believe in and will fight to the death if something is wrong or unjust. I’m not afraid to say what I am thinking. And I always give it to you straight, no BS.

Back when we were shooting our first pilot, it became clear that Lifetime wanted to see me on camera and less of my partners in Blue Jupiter. At each subsequent edit, more and more footage of Blue Jupiter was cut. Finally they admitted – my fiery passion was what they wanted on screen. That, and they loved how my coaching was relatable to a wide audience.

Successful reality TV series has basic requirements: relatable stories with conflict and resolution, drama, and stakes.

Further, if the subject matter is technical in nature, it must be reduced to a “5 year-old” simple explanation. (Get Louder vs Crescendo, dance-moves vs. staging/choreography, wrong notes vs singing flat or sharp.)

During production, the show was in danger of not subscribing to the basic requirements of reality TV. What do you do in a competition show if one of your mentors insists that winning doesn’t matter? What do you do when you’ve set up two rival teams, only to find out that they’re not really motivated to beat the other?

On TV, you can’t enter a competition but not proclaim that winning is good, doing so creates a disconnect for the viewer, leaving them to ask: “why compete then?”. As much as we want to love each other and hug it out, no one watches a competition TV series that de-emphasizes competition. We watch cars drive in a circle 500 times, just to see who can do it faster, cooking shows to root for the better chef, and when watching a baseball game, we want to see the Red Sox fight for it against the Yankees. We are born to understand the fundamentals of competing - you win and you lose, and winning is better than losing. Those are the stakes. If you, as a viewer, don’t believe that the stakes are real, then there is no point in watching. You need to be invested to tune in every week. The network was pleased that I understood this fundamental building block of reality television. So when we would have production meetings late into the evening and early before rehearsal, I would have a general idea of what messages needed to be conveyed, in order for the show to continue to make sense for the viewer, while cramming in as much education as I could during rehearsal.

For a season one show, a lot of great things happened, and it’s a show we can all be proud of. The experience for the participants was a net positive. As the show continues to grow, the opportunities for high school a cappella groups will be amazing. There is a lot of excitement about ways to improve the show, if we’re lucky enough to have a season 2.

BE SURE TO WATCH THE SEASON FINALE OF PITCH SLAPPED TONIGHT AT 10 EST/9 CST ON LIFETIME!

You can find Diana at the following links

www.DianaPreisler.com

www.BlueJupiter.com

Twitter: @Diana_Preisler

Facebook: Diana Preisler

Instagram: @dianapreisler

#Pitch Slapped #Lifetime #RLPP #Diana Preisler #Blue Jupiter #Deke Sharon #Highlands Voices #Stay Tuned #Interview #Popappella

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