Britney and Kevin: Chaotic was born as the docu-reality drama was thriving. Celebs were interested in framing their own narratives for fans before the advent of social media, with shows like Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, The Simple Life, and The Osbournes becoming huge hits.
But behind the scenes, producers say the making of Chaotic was reflective of its title, mostly because the network, UPN, had purchased all of Spears’ footage unseen and then looked to producers to craft a multi-episode series. Kelley, who hadn’t worked on a reality show prior to Chaotic, said when the producers looked at Spears’ footage for the first time, “it was a gigantic moment” because “there was just nothing there.”
“There are no themes, there are no dramatic twists and turns,” Kelley remembers. “We had to create a story arc out of nothing and we had to somehow spread this stuff out for four or five episodes.”
So, producers spent hours holed up in an editing room in New York City and finally realized, “the most we can do with this is to make it kind of fun.”
One producer who worked on Chaotic but didn’t want to be named points out that conflict is one of the core elements of the docu-reality genre, but since Spears and Federline were the ones behind the camera, they elected not to include some of their more dramatic moments of discord.
“With reality shows, you’re following their real life in a fly-on-the-wall kind of way and with this, there was no fly-on-the-wall. It was just them deciding when they’re going to turn the camera on themselves,” the producer tells Glamour.
In order to bridge the rest of the footage together and create a full narrative, one camera operator recalls hunkering down in the Beverly Hills Hotel with a small crew who filmed interviews with Spears and Federline. Another one of the producers, John DeTarsio, tells Glamour they set up shop in a hotel suite and took less than one week to finish interviewing Spears and Federline separately and together.
“It exposed Britney and the side of her that no one had ever seen. Whether that’s good or bad for her image and brand, I think what made it okay was she shot it. It wasn’t like we exploited her,” Kelley says.
To DeTarsio, one thing seemed clear: “Britney and Kevin were totally in love.”
“She was a lovely kid. She was very young,” DeTarsio recalls about Spears. “You see somebody on TV and you just think they’re so glamorous but to me, she was still kind of this sweet, country girl…even though I feel like she was such a big star.”
While producers struggled to make a story out of nothing, it was clear to them why Spears would want to make this show in the first place.
“I think the press was already being mean to her and we really wanted to show her in a good light. You could see how hard fame is and she was very likable in the footage. None of us had any agenda but to put this in the best light possible,” the producer explains.
