Today I had the privilege of chatting with Ben Nemtin of The Buried Life.  I wasn’t sure what to expect (it was my first interview) but was pleasantly surprised when I was met with a down to earth, focused guy (who had a lovely baritone voice).  He thanked me for meeting with him and I thanked him for taking the time to talk with me.

Remember to watch The Buried Life premiering on MTV January 18th at 10:00 p.m. EST.  You can also visit their website or their Facebook fanpage.

So, how did you fellas meet each other?

Well, we’re all from the same town. I mean, we weren’t best friends when this all started but we knew who each other were and the more we talked, the more it became apparent that we all had the desire to do something really meaningful in our lives so we decided to make this into a movie.

What made you decide to do this? An epiphany of sorts?

Not really an epiphany.

A lot of people go through this and I guess we really felt driven to make a difference.

How did you decide what to put on the list? Was it hard finding 100 things you’d like to do or did you have to whittle it down?

Definitely whittled it down. We each went to our separate corners and came up with our own lists then compared and composed a list together. The list is dynamic. Some things get taken off as we grow, some things get put on. It’s more about the question, “What do you want to do before you die?” than the list.

How did you go about making this journey into a television show for MTV?

Well #52 is make a television show.  <laughs> We’re still making our movie but everything is done by us.  MTV doesn’t help us, we have to do everything.  We’re still using the same crew we had four years ago.  We edit everything, make all the calls, it’s really our show that MTV has decided to host.

Why did you decide to help others during this journey instead of just completing your own list?

When we started this we wanted to do something big.  I mean, I bought a camera off of eBay, we all took two weeks off of work and went out on the road.  But we found the more we did, the more people came out to help us.  We’d turn the corner and there would be strangers ready to help us.  We figured the way to pay them back was to help them with their lists and spread the word.

What have you think done so far that you find the most fulfilling?

Definitely the things we’ve done for other people.  I remember in ’06 we bought a truck for a guy who was living on the streets and had just started a business.  It just really hits you, helping others.

Has the idea of producing a show for MTV changed the things you’ve decided to do or how you do them?

For MTV, we chose the most ambitious things on our list, like camp out at the Playboy Mansion or play basketball with President Obama but we’re still staying true to what we’re doing for ourselves.

Reality TV has been taking some nasty hits lately and been rather controversial.  A lot of people think the shows are partially scripted.  How authentic is your show?

That’s the thing, we also felt nothing was “real” on TV anymore, that’s one of the reasons for this show.  Nothing’s scripted or produced, we edit everything ourselves and what you see is what you get.

On your website you call yourself the “schmoozer.”  Who have you had to schmooze so far and why? I make a lot of the initial phone calls and you have to know how to win people over with words.  When we went to go play basketball with Obama, we rolled into D.C. and had one week to figure out how to achieve our goal.  We had to be creative.  That’s where my schmoozing comes in.

It’s listed on your website that you went to the University of Victoria.  Did you graduate?  Do you feel your education is useful in doing this?

I am almost finished with a degree in Business.  This takes up about 18 hours a day of my life, so school’s on the back burner right now, but I intend to finish.  Number 11 on this is to get a college degree and it will happen.

What do your parents think about what you’re doing with this?

They’re really proud actually.  At first they thought we were all crazy, but they’ve been really supportive.

What do you hope people will get out of watching your show?  What message do you hope they receive?

We never want to preach to people.  People our age are really smart and so our goal is to really get people to think about the question, “What do you want to do before you die?” and make their own lists.  Do you know why we chose “The Buried Life” for a title?

No, I don’t.  Why?

Well Jonnie was in English class and got a poem called “The Buried Life” by Matthew Arnold to read.  This poem’s around 150 years old but after reading it we all just really felt a connection to it.  If someone 150 years ago can feel the same way we feel, wanting to live a “buried life,” then how many others feel this way?

Well you boys have been an inspiration to me personally.  Thank you so much for doing this project.

Thank you so much for saying that.  Thanks for the support!