Is Selling the City Scripted or Real?

With real estate-based reality docu-drama productions having been on an unparalleled rise over the past few years, their core entertainment and recreation value has also been increasing. It comes as no surprise Netflix has added yet another such show in its repertoire in the form of ‘Selling the City,’ which comes straight from the creators of its fellow ‘Selling…’ shows. Therefore, of course, it goes without saying this original is the perfect blend of beautiful properties, messy drama, as well as pure chaos, making many wonder whether it’s truly real or not.

Selling the City is as Unscripted as It Can Be

From the moment Netflix’s ‘Selling the City’ was first announced by the streaming global giant serving as its home, it has decisively been billed as an unscripted, authentic reality television show. The only difference between it and its sister productions is that it is set in New York, with the real estate agents at the center of it all serving under the banner of Douglas Elliman Brokerage. In other words, no situation or sentiment that appeared on our screens was concocted from the ground up by experts — instead, the cast was likely urged to come across as who they really are.

This authenticity is actually evident through the digital footprint of all featured individuals, especially as it backs that they are all realtors who have been friends and working together for a while. Let’s take Justin Tuinstra as well as Steve Gold, for example; they both are indeed models turned real estate professionals whose end goal is to provide for their growing or hopeful future family. Then there is Eleonora Srugo, who really did start out in the industry at the age of 22 before climbing the ladder and achieving such incredible success that she got to have her own team in 2022.

However, we can not ignore the fact that the entire narrative of this original is highly susceptible to shifts via producer interference in the hopes of making the final result as captivating as possible. Since extensive resources are invested in ensuring such a series’ long-term, overall online scope and success, it’s likely behind-the-scenes professionals often find ways to keep things interesting. Yet, instead of concocting fictional circumstances, these executives reportedly just nudge cast members to pursue particular topics of conversation at particular points to spark natural, chaotic drama.

That’s perhaps why, oftentimes, the interpersonal arguments or issues between the realtors are discussed in a public setting rather than just being handled in private as most professionals would prefer. In fact, while the drama of Taylor Middleton Scavo being caught in the middle of Eleonora and Jade Chan was mostly taken care of one-on-one, none of the other situations were dealt with in this manner. After all, there was the incident between Gisselle Meneses Nunez and Jus tin over him not showing her one of his listings that was blown out of proportion during her birthday, as well as the full-blown fight Jade and Abigail “Abi” Godfrey got into during Eleonora’s first team anniversary celebration in the season 1 finale.

Then there is the interference in the post-production editing process, but that is honestly unavoidable because it is the producers’ sole means to bring a flow to different shots from different days. Along with the entire camera placement, lighting, and what is actually being filmed during production, this element is completely out of the cast’s hands. So, producers can film, cut, edit, and play with their personal accounts in any way they deem fit to hold the audience’s continued engagement. Nevertheless, despite these modifications, it appears as if ‘Selling the City’ is as natural as it can be since nothing is actually manufactured. However, we say this with a grain of salt because you never really know the extent of producer interference in engineering or manipulation.

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