MTV Plans Boston 'Real World' Series

Take seven Harvard students, put them in a loft and find out happens when they stop being polite and start being real.

No, it's not orientation week in Holworthy. It's the latest incarnation of MTV's trendy hit, "The Real World," which is making an all-out effort to recruit Harvard students to star in the show's sixth season, to be set in Boston.

"The Real World" selects seven strangers and films their lives together over the next six months.

"We would love to have a Harvard student on the show, if that works out," Andrew Hoegl, the casting director, said.

Unlike most of the previous seasons, when the cast only lived together, all of this year's cast members will work at an after-school center for troubled adolescents.

"The cast will spend time tutoring, playing sports, teaching new skills and generally have an opportunity to help," Mary-Ellis Bunim, executive producer, said, "This season we're focusing on a socially-conscious and motivated cast."

Boston was chosen as this year's site for several reasons, including its large college population, social diversity and historical flavor, according to casting researcher Tod Dahlke.

And Harvard has become a focal point of the show's recruiting effort. The Phillips Brooks House Association received mail urging members to apply, members said.

"We're looking for people who might not have applied for past seasons because they had preconceived notions of what it was about," said Executive Producer John Murray.

Interested applicants need to prepare a five- or ten-minute tape of themselves, with an explanation of why they want to be a cast member.

About 20 percent of applicants make it to phase two, which is a writen questionnaire. If "The Real World" producers approve of an applicant's questionnaire responses, the next step is a personal interview. Applicants that successfully make it past the interview are followed for a day by a camera.

"We want to find the people who appear best on camera," Hoegl said. "We look for people who are going to give us a story."

Cast members enjoy several perks, not the least of which is free, luxurious lodging--a step up from your typical Harvard dormitory.

"We look for a rather hip area with a young population," Hoegl said. "[The loft] has to speak the city. I can guarantee that this one will say Boston."

In addition to free housing, cast members get paid a "nominal fee" on a weekly or monthly basis for their participation as well as money for their work at the community center.

Past seasons of the show have featured racially diverse groups, as well as homosexual cast members. The third season had a cast member who was infected with the HIV virus.

In two of the five seasons, cast members banded together to kick a roommate out of the house.

"We don't go out of our way to look for people who won't get along," Hoegl said. "But [with the kind of people we choose] it's probably difficult not to have conflict."

So are any Harvard students going to answer MTV's call to arms? Many students say no.

"I'd rather live on campus," said Joshua Belczyk '00. "I don't want to have to worry about all that stuff.

Cast members enjoy several perks, not the least of which is free, luxurious lodging--a step up from your typical Harvard dormitory.

"We look for a rather hip area with a young population," Hoegl said. "[The loft] has to speak the city. I can guarantee that this one will say Boston."

In addition to free housing, cast members get paid a "nominal fee" on a weekly or monthly basis for their participation as well as money for their work at the community center.

Past seasons of the show have featured racially diverse groups, as well as homosexual cast members. The third season had a cast member who was infected with the HIV virus.

In two of the five seasons, cast members banded together to kick a roommate out of the house.

"We don't go out of our way to look for people who won't get along," Hoegl said. "But [with the kind of people we choose] it's probably difficult not to have conflict."

So are any Harvard students going to answer MTV's call to arms? Many students say no.

"I'd rather live on campus," said Joshua Belczyk '00. "I don't want to have to worry about all that stuff.