The Makings Of Reality TV: Mona Scott Young Hints At Spin-Off Shows, Why She Won’t Dilute Her Brand + Her True Feelings About Bloggers

Hands down, for the last two years, Mona Scott Young’s name has been in the forefront of reality TV. Despite the fact that she’s been in the music industry for years, folk outside the industry ‘discovered’ her when popular VH1 reality show, Love & Hip Hop (LHH), bursted (or busted, you decide) on the scene. In addition to LHH, she’s created a LHH spin-off, centered around Atlanta, introduced a new show about women in media (‘The Gossip Game’) and is rumored to be working on a few other reality TV projects.

Recently, we spoke with the married mother of two at a media roundtable. Dishing on the Love & Hip Hop franchise, her new reality show and spin-off rumors, Peep our most interested/favorite parts of the discussion.

On moving Love & Hip Hop to a different city:

We’ve thought about branching into other cities but it’s not about diluting the brand for me. I don’t want to pimp it out and have Love & Hip Hop everywhere. I could do Miami but I went there and I noticed that the scene is very different; I actually ended coming up with another show called “The Scene”. It’s a different culture in Miami I didn’t meet anyone there that I could build a show around. What you want to do is maintain the integrity of the concept of the show. We’ve looked at other cities–I think if I had to put together cast I would say Houston, New Orleans are interesting.

On what city she would choose if she created ‘The Gossip Game’ spin-off: 

I said to the network if we take it to any other city it would automatically be in Atlanta.

On how she feels about bloggers: 

What I’ve learned is that the bloggers are doing it. They’re out there getting to those stories first–a lot of those media personalities are picking up their stories from the bloggers. They’re doing a lot of that research because they don’t want to have egg on their face if the stuff that you’re putting out there isn’t true.

On picking the cast for ‘The Gossip Game’:

That was just a interview process; reaching out via referrals. It was just through the process of connecting and six degrees of separation. We sat down and met with a bunch of women trying find different lives to represent. You have a single, a married one, you got one that is still in the day job while trying to do this on the side. We also tried to represent different mediums. I walked into the situation thinking that it was a pecking order and I heard that a lot, you know you radio/TV people, freelance and then there are the bloggers almost like they were at the bottom of the pole. What I noticed is all the folks in all these areas kind of get their news from the bloggers. They’re probably a little bit more important than people want to give the credit for, then we kind examine as they try to find their place. It is an interesting show.

For all things Mona Scott Young, follow her @MonaScottYoung