# Siesta Key (TV series)
**Siesta Key** is an American reality television series that premiered on MTV on July 31, 2017, following a group of young adults from [Sarasota County](https://www.edgepedia.org/sarasota-county), Florida, as they spend a summer of relationships and conflicts on the barrier island of Siesta Key.[1](https://time.com/4882354/siesta-key-mtv-review/) • [2](https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2017/7/12/behind_the_scenes_mt) It was created by the producers of *Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County* and was widely described as that show's successor, moving the same docu-soap (A documentary-style soap opera using real people, not actors) format from California's Orange County to Florida's Gulf Coast.[3](https://www.thewrap.com/mtvs-new-laguna-beach-siesta-key-plans-recapture-magic-opposite-coast/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Network and premiere | MTV, July 31, 2017; hour-long episodes rated TV-14, later streaming on Paramount+[1](https://time.com/4882354/siesta-key-mtv-review/) • [4](https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/siesta-key/) |
| Setting | Siesta Key, an eight-mile-long island a short drive from mainland Sarasota, Florida[5](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-tedious-homogeneous-nostalgia-of-mtvs-siesta-key) |
| Producers | Mark Ford and Kevin Lopez of Creature Films, creators of *Laguna Beach*[6](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/) |
| Origin | A pilot about cast member Alex Kompothecras's life, funded by his father, was shopped before the Laguna producers came aboard[6](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/) |
| Format | Cinematic shooting style with no confessionals; each episode narrated by a different cast member[3](https://www.thewrap.com/mtvs-new-laguna-beach-siesta-key-plans-recapture-magic-opposite-coast/) • [6](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/) |
| Original cast | Garrett Miller, Kelsey Owens, Chloe Trautman, Alex Kompothecras, Juliette Porter, Brandon Gomes, and Madisson Hausburg[7](https://www.yourobserver.com/news/2017/jul/19/siesta-key-cast-responds-to-critics-of-new-mtv-show/) |
## Premise and format
The series follows a group of friends, most of whom have known each other much of their lives, returning home from college for the summer in a setting the press consistently described as drenched in sun and wealth.[6](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/) The first season opens with a love triangle centered on Alex Kompothecras, caught between his girlfriend Juliette Porter and his high school sweetheart Madisson Hausburg, with new arrival Kelsey Owens also in the picture.[6](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/) • [8](https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/travel-and-outdoors/2017/08/real-life-controversy-dogs-mtv-s-siesta-key)
**Cinematic style.** Like *Laguna Beach* before it, the show drops the "talking head" interview segments common to other reality series and instead plays out like a scripted drama, but with real people living their own lives rather than actors performing a script.[3](https://www.thewrap.com/mtvs-new-laguna-beach-siesta-key-plans-recapture-magic-opposite-coast/) Executive producer Mark Ford said the goal was for it to "feel cinematic and like independent film" and to move back from typical reality TV tropes.[6](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/) In place of confessionals, cast members sit for conversations recapping their lives for the cameras, and each episode opens with narration read by a cast member.[3](https://www.thewrap.com/mtvs-new-laguna-beach-siesta-key-plans-recapture-magic-opposite-coast/)
## Origin and production
The show began when the father of one of its stars hired a production company to film a pilot about his son Alex's life and friends; Florida-based producer Warren Skeels shot it, and MTV then brought in *Laguna Beach* creators Mark Ford and Kevin Lopez of Creature Films.[6](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/) Alex's father is Gary Kompothecras, a Sarasota chiropractor who, according to *The New Yorker*, had plans to build a new hotel on the island and paid for the pilot to be made.[5](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-tedious-homogeneous-nostalgia-of-mtvs-siesta-key) • [9](https://siestasand.us/a-conversation-with-dr-gary-kompothecras/) Ford and Lopez added their own ideas, including finding new members of Alex's clique to include in the cast.[6](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/)
The original cast members are all from Sarasota County, and the series was filmed in locations across Siesta Key.[2](https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2017/7/12/behind_the_scenes_mt) Production continued in the area for years; Sarasota County's film commission recorded direct spending from the series shooting its fourth production there, for season 3.[10](https://www.scgov.net/home/showpublisheddocument/72017/638963011516670000)
## Relationship to Laguna Beach
MTV positioned *Siesta Key* as part of its strategy to return to its core of reality TV and music, and the show deliberately uses *Laguna Beach*'s format and aesthetics.[6](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/) Ford said he welcomed the comparison but wanted to carve out a different niche.[6](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/) The documented differences from *Laguna Beach* are concrete: episodes run one hour instead of a half hour; each episode is narrated by a different cast member rather than a single narrator; the cast is college-aged rather than in high school; and, as Ford put it, "there's alcohol. An older cast = drinking."[6](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/) The cast also dealt with more consequential subjects, including multiple sclerosis, which one cast member's mother has.[6](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/) Cast member Madisson Hausburg told E! that season 1 addressed LGBTQ issues, interracial relationships, and mental health.[11](https://www.eonline.com/news/916948/why-siesta-key-is-more-than-just-a-wannabe-version-of-the-hills)
## Authenticity debates
From the start, viewers and critics questioned how much of the show was staged, a debate that had also followed *Laguna Beach* and *[The Hills](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hills-tv-series)*, the latter of which faced near-continuous accusations that its drama was staged, scripted, or manipulated by producers.[3](https://www.thewrap.com/mtvs-new-laguna-beach-siesta-key-plans-recapture-magic-opposite-coast/) Ford's response was that production might place cast members in the right setting for a conversation, "but you can't fake emotional truth."[3](https://www.thewrap.com/mtvs-new-laguna-beach-siesta-key-plans-recapture-magic-opposite-coast/) The cast members themselves insisted the drama was organic.[2](https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2017/7/12/behind_the_scenes_mt)
Fan discussion took a different view. Viewers repeatedly described the drama as feeling rehearsed, citing recycled plot lines in which a new arrival threatens an existing couple and cast members who seem to deliver lines for the camera.[12](https://meaww.com/siesta-key-scripted-fans-mtv-show-feels-rehearsed-juliette-porter-chloe-trautman-robby-hayes) Others have wondered whether the series is truly authentic given MTV's history with "unscripted" reality TV.[13](https://www.distractify.com/p/is-siesta-key-fake) Entertainment coverage framed the show as occupying a gray area between real and scripted, noting that production had, in some accounts, "had to kind of twist some things."[14](https://thecinemaholic.com/is-siesta-key-is-scripted/)
## Reception and controversy
Critics were largely negative. *The New Yorker*'s Doreen St. Félix, a staff writer who had worked at [MTV News](https://www.edgepedia.org/mtv-news), called the series stilted and algorithmic and wrote that it failed to compete in the reality landscape *Laguna Beach* helped create, while acknowledging it was "a pretty show to look at."[5](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-tedious-homogeneous-nostalgia-of-mtvs-siesta-key) *Time* judged the show "a mess" and read it as a symptom of MTV's identity crisis in trying to reach young audiences who were moving away from television.[1](https://time.com/4882354/siesta-key-mtv-review/) *The Daily Beast* called it nostalgia bait and noted that, unlike *Laguna Beach*, which produced stars such as [Lauren Conrad](https://www.edgepedia.org/lauren-conrad) and [Kristin Cavallari](https://www.edgepedia.org/kristin-cavallari), *Siesta Key* had yet to debut a cast member with comparable star power.[15](https://www.thedailybeast.com/siesta-key-mtv-wants-to-party-like-its-2004-againbut-do-we/)
Before the premiere, the show drew real-world controversy in its home community. Activists organized a boycott and called for cancellation after images circulated of cast member Alex Kompothecras shooting a hammerhead shark with a pistol and posing with the body, as well as images of drinking and driving.[8](https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/travel-and-outdoors/2017/08/real-life-controversy-dogs-mtv-s-siesta-key) The cast responded publicly to critics of the show in local press.[7](https://www.yourobserver.com/news/2017/jul/19/siesta-key-cast-responds-to-critics-of-new-mtv-show/)
## References
1. [Siesta Key Is a Social-Media Soap That Fails at Being Either, Time (2017)](https://time.com/4882354/siesta-key-mtv-review/)
2. [Behind the scenes: MTV's latest show 'Siesta Key', Spectrum Bay News 9 (2017)](https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2017/7/12/behind_the_scenes_mt)
3. [MTV's New 'Laguna Beach': How 'Siesta Key' Plans to Recapture the Magic on the Opposite Coast, TheWrap (2017)](https://www.thewrap.com/mtvs-new-laguna-beach-siesta-key-plans-recapture-magic-opposite-coast/)
4. [Siesta Key, Paramount Plus](https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/siesta-key/)
5. [The Tedious, Homogenous Nostalgia of MTV's "Siesta Key", The New Yorker (2017)](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-tedious-homogeneous-nostalgia-of-mtvs-siesta-key)
6. [How Siesta Key was filmed and how it differs from Laguna Beach, reality blurred (2017)](https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2017/07/siesta-key-behind-scenes-interview/)
7. ['Siesta Key' cast responds to critics of new MTV show, Your Observer (2017)](https://www.yourobserver.com/news/2017/jul/19/siesta-key-cast-responds-to-critics-of-new-mtv-show/)
8. [Real Life Controversy Dogs MTV's "Siesta Key", Sarasota Magazine (2017)](https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/travel-and-outdoors/2017/08/real-life-controversy-dogs-mtv-s-siesta-key)
9. [A conversation with Dr. Gary Kompothecras, Siesta Sand](https://siestasand.us/a-conversation-with-dr-gary-kompothecras/)
10. [Sarasota County film commission report on Siesta Key production spending](https://www.scgov.net/home/showpublisheddocument/72017/638963011516670000)
11. [Why Siesta Key Is More Than Just a Wannabe Version of The Hills, E! Online (2018)](https://www.eonline.com/news/916948/why-siesta-key-is-more-than-just-a-wannabe-version-of-the-hills)
12. [Is 'Siesta Key' scripted? Fans list out reasons why they believe the drama on MTV show feels rehearsed, MEAWW](https://meaww.com/siesta-key-scripted-fans-mtv-show-feels-rehearsed-juliette-porter-chloe-trautman-robby-hayes)
13. [Is MTV's 'Siesta Key' Fake? Serena Kerrigan Spills the Tea (EXCLUSIVE), Distractify](https://www.distractify.com/p/is-siesta-key-fake)
14. [Is Siesta Key Scripted? Is MTV's Siesta Key Real or Fake?, The Cinemaholic](https://thecinemaholic.com/is-siesta-key-is-scripted/)
15. ['Siesta Key': MTV Wants to Party Like It's 2004 Again—but Do We?, The Daily Beast (2017)](https://www.thedailybeast.com/siesta-key-mtv-wants-to-party-like-its-2004-againbut-do-we/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Celebrity, family, lifestyle, and court reality series › Lifestyle, dating, and docusoaps › Celebrity and family docusoaps › Premiered 1997 to 2018*
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