By BRIAN STELTER

There are better ways to be selected for a reality TV show than by crashing a White House state dinner or concocting a hoax for television news.

A growing number of Web sites now play the role of middleman, connecting aspiring contestants with casting directors. And as the reality genre has thrived, so has a small industry of online talent scouts that serve it - sites like RealityWanted, Talent6 and Got- Cast, where people can find casting calls for TV shows and submit their resumes, often for a monthly fee.

“The lengths that people will go to just to get on these shows is pretty ridiculous,” said Roz Taylor-Jordan of Cast Iron Productions, who is casting season five of “America’s Got Talent.”

She looks favorably on the casting sites. “We can’t be everywhere all the time, so the more people I have mining for me, the better,” she said.

From the perspective of an aspiring contestant, the sites make fame look just a few clicks away. “Jerry Seinfeld is hand-selecting couples for his brand new NBC comedy series about married life,” says a notice posted prominently on RealityWanted. “We need couples who bicker about NOTHING!” The site lets people “apply now” to that show and others, like “The Bachelorette.”

Richard Heene, who admitted to lying to authorities about his son being carried away in a helium balloon, was a member of RealityWanted, one of countless people looking for fame - or perhaps just employment - from the reality TV boom. In a down economy, some publicity seekers on these Web sites are really just job seekers .

“At the end of the day,” said Lisa Berger, an executive vice president at E!, a cable TV network, “these people want two things: they want fame and they want money.”

Casting directors say they lean on Craigslist, Facebook, sites like RealityWanted and InfoList, and their own databases of contestants.

Talent6 charges its members $35 a month. RealityWanted has a tiered pricing system: access is free, but for $4 or $8 a month, people can get extras like instant alerts about casting calls.

Some big shows - like “America’s Got Talent” - don’t need to recruit so aggressively, but for other shows, these sites play an important role.

“They cater to what we’re looking for,” said Jodi Thomas, a casting director for “The Biggest Loser” and other shows. Broadly speaking, she said, this means people with outgoing personalities whom viewers can relate to.

Ms. Thomas was in Detroit and Chicago recently to recruit families for “Losing It With Jillian,” a weight loss show with the trainer Jillian Michaels of “The Biggest Loser.” Beforehand, she posted an ad on RealityWanted asking - in all capital letters - “Are you ready to change you and your loved one’s lives? NBC’s Jillian Michaels is coming to your home!” Dozens of people applied online.

Potential contestants “think we’re going to pay more attention if they’re on these sites, and it’s true,” Ms. Thomas said.

Indeed, in early October, just days before the Heene family’s nationally televised balloon stunt, Ms. Thomas noticed the Heenes in an audition tape for a cable game show (for contractual reasons, she can’t say which one). But she rejected them, she said, because “something seemed off.” She recalled thinking: “Great story, great family, but something’s not right.”

Eliminating people who are desperate or mentally unstable is one of the hardest parts of the job, Ms. Thomas said. The middleman sites do not conduct background checks, so it falls to the production company to ferret out people with problems.


Web sites dangle
chances to reach
reality TV fame.


With hundreds of reality shows on television or in production, casting is always happening. Channels like Bravo, E! and VH1 ask casting directors for people who meet certain criteria, and the directors come back, ideally, with lists of candidates.

“For me, it’s good because my whole job is to get the word out to as many people as possible,” Ms. Taylor-Jordan said.

Reality TV executives are often criticized for picking provocative cast members. But there is more to the selection process than finding people “who are going to jump off the screen,” said Dave Noll, the president for television of Notional, the company that produces “Chopped” for the Food Network and “Don’t Sweat It” for HGTV. When casting, “you’re really making a business decision,” Mr. Noll said, noting that relationships with talent sometimes last for years.

Perhaps because the decisions are so important, the matchmaker Web sites are not universally accepted in Hollywood. Some executives say they make it too easy for people to apply.

“In theory, you hope you’d find great people from these Web sites,” said Randy Bernstein, a co-owner of the agency Casting Duo. “But I’m still oldfashioned, and I believe in recruiting and hand-picking talent.”


The trainer Jillian Michaels of “The Biggest Loser” will be on a new reality television show that is currently seeking contestants. / TRAE PATTON/NBC