What The Grand Tour's Unscripted Film Says About 'Reality' Car Film Production

In episode 4 of season 2 of The Grand Tour, the trio set off to do a completely unscripted and unplanned film. Unsurprisingly, things did not go smoothly, but that was kind of the point. This film highlights the necessity of planning and to a certain degree scripting in real-world car films that we have loved since the trio’s Top Gear era. While some of the complaints about scripting may have merit, this film shows how you can’t just go out with some cameras and film all completely random bits every episode, and expect to put together an entertaining program that’s within budget and time constraints

Production

It’s no secret that much of the brilliance of Top Gear and now The Grand Tour has always come from the production team. While not everything on Top Gear or The Grand Tour needs to be scripted, all good films require an element of planning to go along with the improvisation. The challenges during the Clarkson/Wilman era Top Gear took thought, and so do those on the new Grand Tour. It’s also important to note that Clarkson, Hammond, and May have always had input into the fulfillment of the production plans and that they are taking the rough guidelines and supplementing them with some improvisation. Also, in the film, we learn booking airfields and getting people to time laps/races is part of pre-planning and organization. It’s not being inauthentic, it’s just a matter of logistics. Top Gear and The Grand Tour have the best production teams in the business, and their production teams are the backbone and brains of the show. It’s also worth noting production means something slightly different with a ‘reality’ car show than with a movie or drama tv show. With non-fiction reality tv programming, the production team is the most important to ‘making the magic happen’ followed by the film crew who take their direction. Top Gear’s bigger films always straddled that line between documentary and reality tv programming, and The Grand Tour continues to do this.

Scripting

From my interpretation of the film, I believe that not everything that comes out of the trio’s mouth is scripted, but that they do have scripted moments and for good reason. It’s clear that when talking about the cars or just the scenery, it’s necessary to at least prepare phrases and do research to spice things up. In these moments, genuine reactions are not the main goal but instead producing a slick film clip. Car reviews take time to write, and you absolutely need to have an outline of what you want to say going in. Otherwise, there are bound to be cringe-worthy moments and flat-out false statements. You might even end up stuttering about aimlessly. Not every moment on a show such as Top Gear or The Grand Tour needs to be scripted, but sometimes it just makes sense. Top Gear has even been known to joke about scripting with self-aware comedic bits such as James May’s death in an Albanian police chase, and that’s something that the car-coral-reef film in The Grand Tour S1 E10 does as well. The trio probably wishes good films could just be made by accident like we do, but they have to deal with the fact that these films require planning and some scripting.

Sit Rep

What you should take away from this is that Top Gear and The Grand Tour are and have always been to a certain extent staged. That, however, does not cheapen the entertainment one bit. These two programs are both honest about the level of production involved, even going as far as having challenges delivered by a “producer”. In a way, I don’t even want to call Top Gear or The Grand Tour reality tv, because the quality level and variety of programming supersedes all other reality tv show programming and not just in the realm of car related shows. There are certain films which I would even go as far as calling documentaries. Top Gear under Clarkson, Hammond, May, and Wilman became one of the most popular shows in the world, and for good reason. Unlike generic reality TV shows, Top Gear never had anything to hide. It was always pretty clear what was real and what was scripted, and when things were scripted, it was never to create unnecessary drama. Now The Grand Tour finally lays out specifically why and how things must be planned and scripted. In the film, there are moments of brilliance despite the lack of script or planning, and that just goes to show that while the production and scripting are an essential part of the process, the trio does contribute a lot of improvisation to the show. If anything, this film tells me that The Grand Tour should do more competitive challenges and should keep coming up with ideas for films that don’t just involve expensive cars and perfect roads. I do think old Top Gear had less scripting than the new Grand Tour, but the trio really got there point across with this film and showed how there are limits to how authentic a program can be without becoming a mess. Note: Yes, this unscripted film did have some scripting, but it’s all to make a point.