After several television depictions of the haunting known as Sallie’s House, the latest being A Haunting on Discovery Channel, I have come to an understanding that television can not truely give the public a complete and factual representation of complex stories. With this in mind, I feel compelled to tell share what I have learned over the years. Although the set of this article uses the backdrop of the Sallie story, it really revolves much more so around the behind the scenes of television productions.
Unless you perhaps live in Hollywood or have had some level of involvement in the production of a movie or television spot, there is really no way of knowing what goes on behind the scenes. In fact, many have a pre-determined view of the process and participation of those involved.
This article is written solely from my own incite, interpretation of our situation, and our experiences, and might possibly be way out in left field. But it is also colored with information that I have read concerning the experiences of others as well. So, please read on with an open mind so you can perhaps see things from a different point of view.
We have been approached numerous times by different media entities and its always been the same approach. Each time we have voiced our concern that the facts must be presented for us to feel comfortable in taking part. I have often gone as far as to cited the negligence I perceive, when other productions have been made.
Our goal, when allowing it to be depicted or told by others, has always been about the facts of our story. And each time we are assured that our story and the truth behind it will finally be told. Every time, however, the final production is altered from the path of truth we wanted to presented. I cannot count how many times we have been disappointed in what was ultimately represented to the public.
I now have two theories about this. The first being that the executives in charge of a given production, really have very little interest in factual information. I imagine they are simply looking for the exciting and frightening because they assume that is what the public wants. We all know that is what keeps them coming back, which in turn gives them the ratings, which keeps their show and ideas alive.
Then there are those who must go out and find good stories for the executives. Their place in the production puts them in a position where they have to get material that will get ratings for their series or show to continue to flourish, and it may even be a balancing act to maintain their own job security.
In their search for material, they find people and stories like Tony’s and mine. They are responsible for the correspondence and ultimately winning over the confidence of those the company wants to represent the experience of. Now, I’m not completely sure, but I would imagine that a great number of people approached, are simply elated with being on TV and having their story told. This of course works very well for the executives.
These poor individuals try their best to play two roles (perhaps a role similar to a realtor); one representing the wishes of the executives and one communicating the wishes of those that the story is about. Inadvertently, and perhaps without their knowledge what they have communicated to the participants, are usurped by those in higher authority. This creates a feeling of animosity, and allows the participants to view them and ultimately the production and those involved, in a bad light.
This is especially true for those of us who dwell on truth and factual representation rather than the circus type hype, propaganda and seemingly exploitation of facts. We allow ourselves to be swayed into thinking that our story will finally be told like it should be, because that is what we are told. When that it is not the case, we are left trying to explain why. We are left wondering why some points of interest are left out, skewed, or blatantly misleading. Up until very recent reflection on this, I have often felt that it was because no one cared about the true story.
This has ultimately led to a broader theory. The production of any television or movie representation goes through many different departments and each of these has several individuals with their own preconceived ideas or visions of a haunting. I really believe this is where the problem lay.