Inside That Earthquake of a ‘Summer House’ Reunion and What Comes Next: “Things Have Evolved”
Bravo executive Josh Brown, who was in the room on reunion taping day, reveals to The Hollywood Reporter how production scrambled to capture the cast reacting to Amanda Batula and West Wilson's relationship, talks dressing rooms and cast tension, answers if we'll ever see that le…
When Bravo announced their official viewing party for the first night of the three-part Summer House reunion, tickets sold out in seconds. Hundreds of fans showed up to fill three auditoriums at the AMC Theatre on 19th street in New York City on Tuesday night to watch the cast of the hit reality series discuss, for the first time, the relationship scandal that has rocked both their friend group and the Bravo-verse at large.
Josh Brown, vp of current production for the network, was in attendance at one of those live screenings, and in his decades of film and TV-making — including the last 10 years working on Summer House — he’s never seen anything like it. “I was expecting the fans to be engaged, but I was surprised at how engaged they were,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. “There was either cheering or clapping or laughing or booing every 15 seconds. It just showed the incredible connection the fans have to the series and how meaningful it is to them.”
THR spoke with Brown after part one of the Summer House reunion aired on Tuesday night to go inside the taping, which he attended when the 10 hour-plus day was filmed back on April 23, to get all of the details from someone who was in the room when Ciara Miller confronted her former friend, Amanda Batula, and her ex, West Wilson, about their shock relationship, which has continued on after that taping. Below, Brown reveals where they are with the cast for season 11, which begins filming in July; if viewers will get clarity on the confusing Batula-West relationship timeline; and what to expect when the final two parts of the reunion air on June 2 and 9: “If you think you’ve seen twists and turns in Part 1, get ready.”
Josh, how has your behind the scenes role evolved in your last decade working on Summer House up to this season?
I started when Summer House was still in development, when we got the green light. My role is executive in charge, along with other executives at NBC Universal, to represent the network. But production [Truly Original] is really driving the train. We collaborate closely with them. But they are the ones out in the field. I will visit from time to time every season. I attend the reunion and the control room. But I’m not at scenes. It’s important to give the creative team space to do what they do. They’re super talented.
So when an event like this happens, where you hear that two castmembers, Amanda Batula and West Wilson, are putting out a statement that they are in a surprise relationship, and production mobilizes to film the rest of cast reacting — which we saw in the reunion opener — what was the chain of events?
What makes Bravo so special, and Summer House extra special, is how real it is and how real these friendships are. This is a real friend group. Not everyone is friends with everyone, but it’s overlapping friend groups. It’s “a friend weave,” as I like to call it. So when something big like this happens, it is like suddenly we’re putting on our documentary filmmaker or news reporter hats and following what’s really happening just the way everybody else is. I’m grateful it did not occur in the middle of the night. We didn’t get the 2 a.m. phone call; this happened during the day.
We got word mere minutes before that there was going to be a statement released, and so we’re all scrambling to react to it just in the way I’m guessing the way a newsroom would. We are scrambling to follow what’s real — and it is a scramble.
Production was already filming Lindsay Hubbard for the Summer House spinoff In the City, so the timing worked out for the opener that we saw.
That’s correct. That was what was happening at the time. When you watch the reunion, Part 1, I think you really feel their real reactions. It was just by chance that we were filming these interviews at the time. They didn’t exactly pick cameras back up; the cameras just happened to be there for the interviews so they were able to adjust. A lot of the same creative team members who work on Summer House work on In the City, so they were able to pivot quickly.
You’ve worked across other reality shows on the Real Housewives and Below Deck franchises. Have you ever seen this kind of watch-party mobilization or online reaction before? Is this “Scandoval” x10?
I feel like the world has evolved since Scandoval [the Vanderpump Rules relationship scandal], even though it hasn’t been very long. So it is reminiscent, but social media and reactions to Bravo series, and reality series as a whole, have gone into hyperdrive. I’ve definitely not seen this level before.
There were so many watch parties across the country. It does feel like a communal experience. It feels like something you want to experience with your own friend group. This exact thing isn’t a common occurrence probably for most people, but it can remind them of things that have happened in their own group. It makes you want to turn to your friends and community to watch it together.
How much were you editing this Part 1 episode down to the wire?
Honestly, reunions are always down to the wire. We want to film them as late as possible so that the cast can see all the episodes, and so we can generate enough viewer questions for the reunion based on all of the episodes. It’s always a huge crunch to the finish line. This one is a little extra crunchy, but it’s finished a couple days in advance. We’re not down to the second.
You filmed more than 10 hours of footage that day. Did you consider a four-part reunion?
It was a big day. I think RHOA has done a four-part reunion before. We might have thought about it for a second. Obviously, when you shoot over 10 hours, you have the material. But I think when viewers see the full reunion, they’ll feel like this is the right length. It has a certain arc to it. I think it’ll feel really right. I don’t think people will feel like there’s something that went hugely missing.
Have you gotten any early ratings feedback, and how high are your expectations for viewership?
We haven’t gotten [the seven-day] ratings yet. It’s going to take a little bit. I expect it to be popular. We were trending No. 1 on Twitter and you see on all sorts of social how much people are talking about it. I’m just happy that viewers seem to be having a good reaction, because we felt like we had to do the fans right here by making a great reunion.
Veteran reunion host Andy Cohen said this was the most intense Bravo reunion he’s ever filmed. Since you were also on set, did this feel different — even from the first moments when Amanda and West and Ciara walked onto the stage?
Yes, absolutely. In this friend group, this was about as big of an earthquake as you could imagine. You could feel the tension in the air. As soon as you arrived in the morning, everything’s different. In the beginning of the reunion, you see West and Amanda were sharing a dressing room, and Kyle was in with the other guys. That says everything to me. That says: We are in for a big day. But this cast has always had something special, which is the ability to discuss big issues and also keep it a little bit loose and fun. So there’s a lot of fun to be had, too. But it was a big day. Off camera, the people working on the show behind the scenes really care about these people. Everyone was emotional.
What is that like navigating what the day was going to look like, for example, with the dressing rooms. Do certain people get to make requests? Or even with the seating chart, do people push back or request to be moved?
I don’t recall anyone ever pushing back on a seating chart, at least not on the series I work with. They might think it in their heads! But no one has ever expressed it. With the dressing rooms, if someone had a major issue, we would certainly switch them. But I don’t recall that ever happening either.
I think fans were surprised everyone showed up and faced this head on. There have been other casts where people haven’t wanted to film with others, or have walked off reunion sets. What makes this cast different?
I think it speaks to them being a real friendship group. These people hang out year round. They are not appointment shooters. They are here to be real friends in real life in New York City. Maybe it’s reflective of New York City. We’re all living on top of each other in New York City. You have to figure out a way to manage with other people. This cast is there for each other for the most part through the year, and I think you really feel that in this reunion. You feel like it’s really a friend group working out their issues and we just happened to be filming it.
