Q & A with Executive Producer Thom Beers (cont.)

Question: Watching the first episode, the Colonists quickly adapted to the idea. What were they told about the experiment before entering into it, and why do you think they got into that headspace right away?

Answer: They knew the basic premise of the experiment, knew they were going to go away for two months and that they were going to be put in a very Spartan existence. We knew that obviously it would be very stressful if you were actually in the midst of a catastrophic event - be it nuclear, germ warfare, hurricane, etc. So to create a stressor for the Colonists from the very beginning, we kept them awake for 30 straight hours. In addition, we had them scavenge in a looted store and walk down the L.A. River to get to their sanctuary, which secured their mind-set from the beginning. Coming down the river, which we don’t show a lot of, they encountered very aggressive people who were throwing things and screaming at them, so I think the level of mistrust was pretty high from the beginning. They were immediately on edge, not knowing what was going to be thrown their way next. You get very primal very quickly in a situation like this when you know that you have a certain number of days and you only have a certain amount of food, water and resources available to you. It’s not like you’re going to be very generous.

Question: What was each Colonist able to bring with them when the experiment began?

Answer: We started with six Colonists and introduced four new people the next day. The first group came in with nothing – just the clothes on their back. They were the group who looted the store, so other than what they grabbed there, they had nothing. The second group was allowed to each carry in a small suitcase. This was a deliberate part of the scenario on our part. We positioned: If you were walking down the street in L.A. and some catastrophic event occurred, you would likely have nothing but what you were wearing or carrying. Other people could have been on their way to an airport, heading out of town, or could have been in their home and said, "Look, I’ve gotta get out of here" and had the time to pack. We wanted to replicate the randomness of a single event. You don’t know where you’ll be when something like this happens, so we tried to re-create that by allowing some people to bring things in and others to have nothing but the clothes on their back.

Question: What was the most difficult challenge the Colonists faced throughout the experiment?

Answer: I’d say one of the most simple: hygiene. That place was filthy. It was disgusting, and for them to keep their dignity was amazing. Allison was literally out there making gowns out of curtains and still applied makeup, while John C’s feet got blacker and blacker from the dirt in the warehouse.

Question: What was your technical setup (cameras, etc.)?

Answer: With an 80,000-square-foot warehouse, plus another 30,000 square feet of outside space, it was a huge footprint to cover. We put in place 10 cameras that were locked down, remote tilt/pan that were stationary but picked up most of the angles that we knew people would be staying in – the living areas, feeding areas and bathrooms. We also had, at any given time, three or four camera crews on the floor, plus two or three Sonycams held by producers who also were recording. We also had two small rooms that were in essence our interview rooms where we interviewed the Colonists remotely. What we tried to do was keep the concept of isolation to a maximum. Producers occasionally asked questions – how are you feeling in the moment? – but most of the setup was isolated. And all of that was fed by microphones up to two control rooms – one audio, one video. We had a video wall with probably 20 monitors from each camera feeding in. From the control room, story producers were basically listening and watching the events as they took place. It was quite a setup.

Question: As an observer, what did you learn – or what do you think people will learn -- about the human condition from this experiment?

Answer: The big takeaway for me is the absolute ingenuity of the human mind and spirit, and our ability to adapt and conform and work together toward common goals. At the same time to all have our moments of frustration and anger but in the end come together as a group and prevail. Not just survive, but prevail. To me, that’s it, that’s the big thing. These Colonists put their nose to the grindstone and they did amazing work. They toiled, they carried water, they figured out ways to capture water from their roof, they devised a way to make hot water for showers. They even built a gym to stay in shape! They ultimately built an escape vehicle from the ground up. They ate rats. They avoided marauders trying to steal their stuff and endured physical hardship and mental anguish. And they prevailed over everything. I want people to walk away and go, "You know what, I’m more prepared than ever for anything that comes at me, and at the same time I actually almost look forward to it." How cool would that be? I love their spirits and that idea that when you strip away all pretense of modern society – no televisions, no radios, no BlackBerries, no nothing – there is no communication whatsoever, and they took it right down to the basics. Let’s work on this project and try and figure out how we can survive. That’s a simple, but powerful premise.