I have been trying to film with CUT videos for about two years now. I joined the waitlist, received all the casting emails, and waited for the perfect opportunity.
Many know CUT on YouTube from their “Keep it 100” and “Lineup” videos, and their newer dating show, “The Button.” What many don’t know is that they film primarily in Seattle, which happens to be very accessible to me. I signed up to be screened for every video that applied to me, and I finally got cast in their “Keep it 100” series, where they interview 100 people with multiple hard-hitting questions.
The experience itself was very interesting! The building is so unsuspecting from the outside, but the inside is a bougie-looking film studio. Upon arrival, I was offered a full snack and drink bar and waited for my interview. You have to be super quiet in the lobby area when they’re in the studio, which definitely raised the pressure. Once I was called in, the interview took about half an hour, and it was beyond intimidating. I think I was mostly nervous because I’d never been filmed like that before. The problem also, was that I filmed for “Keep it 100,” which meant I was all alone in front of the camera, with the producer and crew watching and asking me questions. I’m a generally anxious gal, so this was pretty nerve-wracking (though I don’t think it showed too badly on camera).
I was asked a series of about 10 questions and told to chat about my answer until I felt satisfied. The issue I had with this was that my gabbing allowed the producers to pick and choose what answers they thought would do well on camera, which I absolutely understand! The nice thing about CUT is that their whole premise is transparency and honest conversations. They don’t splice words like popular reality TV shows. However, they do need to get good ratings, so if you say something without thinking, it’s going to be aired.
For example, they asked me what one of my hot takes was, and I went on to talk about my dislike for the Taylor Swift fandom and some general gripes I had with her (I will get into that another time). In my rant, in one of the sentences, I said “I hate Taylor Swift” and dealt out a longer explanation. Of course, in a video of 100 people, there’s only room for so much, that those were the words of mine that got aired. I got some hate comments for being a woman hater (which I get) and some people agreed with me, but I don’t mind either so much, as no one got to hear my explanation.
Some of the other prompts I got were:
“Have you ever driven drunk?”
“Tell me about a zodiac sign that you hate and why.”
“Scream at the top of your lungs.” (This one felt good)
“On a scale of one to ten, how racist are you?”
“Show me how you flirt.”
There were about five more, but they’ve since slipped my mind. The videos aired over a series of about 2 or 3 months, and I checked CUT every day, hoping to see myself on their page. I made the thumbnail a few times, and I generally enjoyed my experience! I think I would have opened up a bit more if I had filmed something like “Fear Pong,” that way I would be on camera with someone else.
This was a really good experience for stepping out of my comfort zone, and I’m truly glad I did it. I’m still watching the casting list, hoping to find something that piques my interest! If you are thinking about filming with them, I absolutely recommend applying! I had so much fun, and I’ll attach the application link! This channel gets so many views every day and I was so glad to get to be a part of it.