Wedding bells rang as Bravo Media was the #1 cable network in primetime this past Sunday night among P18-49 and P25-54 driven by “The Real Housewives of Atlanta: Kandi’s Wedding,” “What Watch Happens Live” and “Married to Medicine. The season finale of “Kandi’s Wedding” at 8pm delivered 2.8 million total viewers, making it the highest-rated episode of the season and also the #1 unscripted cable telecast of the day among P18-49 and P25-54.
If you thought Real Housewives of Atlanta was dramatic before, you better get prepared for the complete CRAZINESS of season 7 and the new cast members who are set to majorly shake things up!
In an EXCLUSIVE interview, the exec producer of RHOA, Carlos King, reveals why we should be pumped for the new housewives (Claudia Jordan and Demetria McKinney) and the details concerning Porsha Williams’ demotion from season regular.
Behind the strength of its Sunday night lineup, Bravo Media was the #1 ad-supported cable network for the night in primetime this past Sunday among all key demos, according to Nielsen. Sunday also marked the network’s best night ever among all key demos and most watched day among total viewers. “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” garnered a franchise reunion high among total viewers with 4.3 million and was the #1 unscripted cable entertainment telecast of the week among P18-49 with over 2.4 million.
In chess, the king is the most important piece. In reality television, the same rule applies, especially in the case of Carlos King. This producing powerhouse has been making all the right moves in a career that seems unstoppable.
The Detroit native started off as a self-proclaimed “insatiable intern” on a series of studio and staged shows including The View, 20/20, Primetime Live and 106 & Park. After valuable time as a production assistant at BET Networks, King got an offer to produce The Real Housewives of Atlanta, and taking that job became the first of countless career power moves.
“When I stepped into reality television, it became all about the opportunity to engage in storytelling,” he says. That talent eventually helped King realize a childhood dream: working alongside Oprah Winfrey, as a producer on Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes. “I enjoyed that Oprah owned up to being a boss. She was unapologetic. That was something I took from her.”
Now, a boss in his own right, King is not only CEO of Kingdom Reign Entertainment but also co-executive producer on the highly rated (and highly controversial) show Love & Hip Hop Atlanta. Regarding the hot button hit, King says, “I love the fact that I get to go to work every day and shape people’s lives. People may say that I play a part in making people look bad on television, but it’s the complete opposite. This position allows me to give these women a voice to tell their real-life stories, and people want to see this on television.”
King credits much of his career’s progression to his sexuality. “I wouldn’t be where I am [professionally] if I wasn’t gay,” he says. “It’s what’s gotten me in the door. My personal niche is producing women. They don’t feel threatened and always seem to find comfort in trusting me as a nonjudgmental best-friend type. They tell me everything, and that’s needed to be a great producer—and the males respect my honesty and openness, too.”
What’s next? “After season 2 of LHHA wraps, I’ll be developing some shows on my own. I’m good at it and I’m not ashamed to say that. Like Janet Jackson once said, ‘What I can’t do, I will stay away from, but what I can do, I’ll make sure I do it better than anyone else.’”
– See more at: http://uptownmagazine.com/2013/03/finest-carlos-king/#sthash.uwDPiDSN.dpuf
“Be patient, work hard, know that God’s working for you, and never let your age define your success.” Carlos King offers up this sage advice from the standpoint of one who has lived its truth. With his recent success working as Co-Executive Producer for Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, a reality show which attracted an enormous following of more than 3 million viewers with its season premiere alone, King is living proof that patience, faith, and hard work can indeed pay off.
As a young boy growing up in the “Motor City” under the watchful eye of a father who toiled for the Ford Motor Company for twenty long years, Carlos King had already set his sights elsewhere. He recalls living amongst many plant workers who defined their success by whether or not they worked for one of the “Big 3” plants. While he respected the work that his father did, he decided early on that Detroit life was not for him. He kept himself sane by watching television, a past time which fueled his dreams of working in the entertainment industry.
“Detroit isn’t really the type of place for entertainment,” King explains. “Being somebody that just knew that I wanted to get involved in the entertainment industry somehow, I was always this kid who just dreamed of making it big and moving to New York City. I always had this type of ambition because I knew that I didn’t want to just live in Detroit for the rest of my life, and when the opportunity came for me to move to NY you know the rest was history!”
After moving to New York in 2002 and interning for big time shows the likes of The View and 20/20, he eventually went on to work for BET as a production assistant. It was during his stint there that his mentor, Joy Chen, called and offered him the opportunity to work on the then new reality show called The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
“I was like, ‘Oh God—I got to move to Atlanta for like 3 months’, and the money wasn’t going to be good; I was going to have to take a pay cut, so it wasn’t going to be an easy transition for me. But I always saw the bigger picture because I wanted to do reality. I started working on The Real Housewives of Atlanta and it was the best decision I ever made, because that kind of jumpstarted everything for me. It has been nonstop for me since 2008. That show really propelled my career to unforeseen heights, and you know I never regretted that decision.”
He continued to work on Atlanta housewives as a producer for four years before moving on to become the Co-Executive Producer for Love and Hip Hop Atlanta with Mona Scott Young, the Executive Producer of the series. Through word of mouth he heard that Young was bringing the then New York based show to Atlanta, and he eagerly jumped at the opportunity. The show became an immediate success, earning recognition as the top rated cable show for women 18-49 years old.
“I called Mona Scott Young myself and I told her that I wanted to work on the show,” King recalls. “We had a meeting like the next day and she fell in love with me; I fell in love with her—and she got me a position as Co-Executive Producer. When I came on board they were already casting and I cast Carly. I was like, ‘Mona, Carly is going to be good; she’s messy, trust me!’ I knew immediately after seeing Jocelyn and the whole love triangle that this show was going to be a monster hit. And then it became the number one show on cable!” King proudly exclaims.
As though having the number one cable reality show isn’t noteworthy enough, King also has a few other projects under his sleeve. He has been working on a new show with his good friend and mentor, Tyler Perry. Called Tyler Perry Comes to OWN, the show premieres May 26th on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network. Prior to working on this project, King worked with Winfrey as a show producer for Oprah Behind the Scenes for a year. It was under Winfrey’s tutelage that he learned how to run a production empire as the Oprah Winfrey show was embarking on its final season.
“It was definitely a blessing being able to work with her,” says King, “and just kind of be a sponge and watch how she operates, and just really learn how to run an empire.”
King also has a new production company called Kingdom Reign that he is especially proud of. The company came into fruition in September and has been growing ever since. In addition to developing shows, the company provides consultations for people who are interested in pitching shows. It also helps develop talent for those who are interested in doing, or are already involved in, reality television.
“I want to continue developing shows that are hot topics discussions for people who love to watch reality TV, explains King. “I don’t think this genre is going anywhere, so I really just want to take things to the next level and have my company be the premiere destination for the reality shows that ignite controversy and conversation [while offering] really quality programming.”
Season 2 of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta will premiere on Monday, April 22nd at 8p.m.
After a taping with author Terry McMillan and her gay ex-husband, the head of Harpo public relations calls Oprah about a potentially offensive comment she made during the show. Watch Oprah discuss the comment with members of her staff.
CLICK HERE to watch.
We have good news for you. You can have a cool career and make a good living. No need to choose between loving your job and paying your mortgage. The following profile, part of the BlackEnterprise.com Cool Jobs series, offers a peek into the nuts and bolts, perks and salaries behind enjoyable careers.
The It Factor: Alongside executive producer Mona Scott-Young, Carlos King, 33, was part of launching a new edition to an already widely successful franchise, Love & Hip-Hop. Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta. It’s yet another cult-classic to add to an already impressive list of production credits which include The Real Housewives franchise, as well as Oprah’s Season 25: Behind the Scenes and Don’t Be Tardy for the Wedding. The founder of Kingdom Reign Entertainment is working in pre-production for season 2 of Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta, as well as other heavyweight projects.
The Process: A Detroit native, Carlos moved to New York midway through his sophomore year of college. As a student at Wayne State University, he decided to transfer to Hunter College to pursue a bachelor’s degree in mass communications. “I always knew the way to leave my mark in this in this industry was to network, so I was like the king of internships. I interned [everywhere] from a small gospel radio station [to] Teen People, The View… 20/20 to Prime Time Live … MTV, BET, to Def Jam. I just wanted to network. I would always have an internship every semester.”
The Risky Leap: Interning “everywhere” finally paid off. In 2005, he was hired as a production assistant for BET Style hosted by Big Tigger and Melyssa Ford. He worked on the show for a year and eventually decided to drop out of college. “I was in geography class bored, and I was sitting there, [thinking] ‘I have a job at BET and everybody around me is dying to get a job out of college. I already have that. My career is booming and I need to strike while the iron is hot!’ ” After making the decision, Carlos gave his full energy to BET, working on the networks’ shows and specials. He got the opportunity to participate in many of the network’s flagship programs, from 106 & Park to Spring Bling. In fact, he says he was even part of selecting former hosts Terrance J and Rocsi Diaz.
Defining Moments: King’s mentor, Joyce Chen, approached him with a job offer to work on a brand new reality TV project, The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Carlos says “Financially, it made no sense for me to go to Atlanta because I wasn’t being put up in housing; I wasn’t going to make any money, but I realized the bigger picture.”
King moved to Atlanta for four months to work on the show as an associate producer. “When I went to Atlanta in 2008, I immediately knew that this show was going to be a big hit. It was instant! I knew that it was the best decision I had ever made in my career.” The Atlanta installment went on to be Bravo’s most successful. “After I did season 1 of Atlanta, I went back to New York and got a call to do The Real Housewives of New Jersey. The producers knew I was already familiar with the Housewives format. I did Jersey Housewives season one, and then that rolled back over into doing season two of Atlanta, and after season two of Atlanta was up, I was asked to do season two of New Jersey.”
While working on another season for the Housewives franchise, King got a call from a producer, who worked with him on the New Jersey installment. “[He said] ‘I got this project that stars Oprah. Are you interested?’ I replied, ‘Is that a trick question? Oprah Winfrey is like my idol!’ ” Finally King knew he was meant to be a reality television producer.
The Advice: King urges the importance of securing internships. He says it’s important you do what you have to do to make yourself known and noticed because you can easily be forgotten. Finally, he adds, don’t take anything personal. “This is a mistake most young professionals make. This is the type of job where you have to have thick skin. You get cursed out a lot, because they’re hormonal … NeNe [Leakes] has cursed me out a few times. I’ve been yelled at by everybody, from NeNe to Sheree [Whitfield] to Kim [Zolciak]. I’ve been all types of names, but you know … it’s all in love.”
Are the conversations and relationships we see on reality TV authentic? Meh, fans may never get to the bottom of that one, but viewers can believe the infamous fights that they see between reality TV stars.
The fights are real and some seem predictable after editing, but how prepared are show producers for the drink splashing, bottle throwing and hair pulling? Are they worried about their own safety while the cameras roll?
S2S talked with producer Carlos King, who worked on all four seasons of Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Atlanta” and currently is an Executive Producer for VH1’s “Love and Hip Hop Atlanta,” for his behind-the-scene perspective on reality fights.
Carlos was on set when Sheree Whitfield tugged at Kim Zolciak’s wig on Season 1 of “Real Housewives of Atlanta.” “That was my first time experiencing some hand-on-body action. So as a producer we’re all just so shocked and surprised it was happening,” Carlos recalled. “And of course if it ever got physical we would break it up.”
Once they get to know their cast, the producers can start to anticipate their actions.
“When it comes to ‘Love and Hip-Hop’ we have security on set. So whenever someone gets physical, security jumps in and kind of breaks the fights up. But on ‘Housewives’ we don’t have security on set because it’s just not that type of show,” Carlos told S2S.
Fans of “LHHATL” got a glimpse of Carlos de-escalating K.Michelle after her table shaking argument with Karlie Redd in episode five, but the people you see stepping between fighting divas aren’t always producers.
“The security guards are insured,” Carlos explained. “Whereas the producers are more focused on telling the story, and if we get hit with a glass, you know, that’s a whole big issue. So that’s why we have security on set.”
While Carlos insists that reality shows are not scripted, he says his job entails getting the cast to confront difficult situations and people they may usually avoid. This role leads to producers being blamed for instigating situations that lead to fights.
Carlos is proud that he has not been a part of a show that is known for fighting, but it “LHHATL” has its moments. Hopefully, he won’t face anything as dangerous as Kimbella and Erica Mena’s fight on “Love and Hip Hop” New York where champagne flutes were thrown.
“I didn’t work on ‘Love and Hip Hop’ New York so when those glasses were being thrown, I was like, ‘How would I deal with that?’ But that’s real life stuff. If the cameras weren’t rolling I’m sure that they would be throwing more than just glasses.”
The “Love and Hip Hop Atlanta” reunion show is sure to be drama-filled, but the question is: Will anyone put ‘dem paws’ on their cast mate?
Two of the most influential reality TV producers are here to tell Showbiz Tonight what is real when it comes to reality TV.
Mona Scott-Young, who is the creator and executive producer of VH1’s “Love & Hip Hop,” and reality show producer Carlos King are dishing on all of the reality show secrets! Plus, are these producers able to spot the breakout stars before they hit it big?
Behind the Brand” is a segment we put together highlighting notable individuals in their industry & how they started their personal #brand. Check out our latest “Behind the Brand” ft. @kingdomlos the man behind @VH1 @BravoTV highest viewed #realityshows such at Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, Real Housewives of Atlanta/NJ, and Oprah Season 25
