Imagine watching helplessly as someone breaks into your home. FOR GOD’S SAKE, WHY DON’T YOU DO SOMETHING?!! After all, you’re not tied up and you’re not being held at gunpoint. Yet you sit idly by as the burglar mercilessly ransacks your home and liberates you of all your valuables. Why? Because you have actually volunteered for this ordeal and your tormentors are the makers of “It Takes a Thief,” Discovery Channel’s hot new reality series.
Volunteers featured on the weekly, hour-long program subject themselves to this unpleasantness because they know the burglary is staged and they recognize the benefits they will derive from the experience. These participants learn all about their security vulnerabilities and receive a “security makeover,” not to mention the thrill of appearing on national TV and the reaction they get from friends and family.
To create an aura of authenticity, “It Takes a Thief” features a pair of reformed criminals — Matt Johnston and Jon Douglas Rainey — as the on-camera talent. Johnston, who serves as the primary host and security expert, sets up each week’s show and points out the site’s weaknesses before explaining their solutions. Rainey, who serves as the burglar, cases the location, breaks in and carries out the mock burglary. Later, they make sure their lessons have been learned when they attempt a follow-up break-in.
Off-screen, a security consultant — Frank Santamorena, Physical Security Professional (PSP) and member of ASSA ABLOY’s Integrated Solutions Specialists (ISS) team — works with the show’s producers to make sure the site survey and security makeover are as thorough and effective as possible. Meanwhile, a number of other security professionals, such as alarm company Scarsdale Security and Honeywell, have aligned with “Thief” to showcase their installation and manufacturing expertise.
Add it all up and you have a program that is entertaining and educational. The formula seems to be working as the show has been picked up for a second season. In what is surely a boon for the security industry, mainstream media are enlightening people about security issues and the realization that a burglary really could happen to them. It is teaching them the value of security-minded practices, hardware and systems.
That is why Security Sales & Integration has teamed up with Reed Exhibitions — organizers of the International Security Conference and Expo (ISC) East — the Discov- ery Channel and Honeywell to arrange for key personnel from “It Takes a Thief” to participate in an interactive keynote session at this year’s event.
The presentation, which kicks off ISC East New York at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, is set for 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 24. As the Exclusive Media Sponsor, SSI is moderating the session and featuring “Thief” representatives at its booth (No. 1451) for a “meet-and-greet” immediately following the keynote.
SSI recently went behind the scenes of “It Takes a Thief” to find out how the program was conceptualized and developed, how it is being produced and marketed, and how it has been received. In an industry exclusive, the show’s hosts, consultants, producers and homeowners share their insight and experiences; installation and manufacturing companies explain their roles; and industry experts keep “Thief” honest with their critiques.
The ‘Thief’ Who Came to Discovery: U.K. Show Crosses Atlantic
Although “It Takes a Thief” was first seen on these shores when it debuted on the Discovery Channel on Feb. 2, television audiences on the other side of the Atlantic had been enjoying it for several years. Much like “American Idol,” “Thief” began life in the United Kingdom where it was known as “To Catch a Thief.”
“Jeremy Mills of Lion TV partners came up with the general idea with a team of people including myself that we used to make a pilot,” says Tony Tackaberry, executive producer of “It Takes a Thief.” “The idea was based on Jeremy’s personal experience as a burglary victim. He wanted to better understand how security works and so we used his house to do our test shoots. Then we looked for the right hosts to give the show credibility and shot it for the BBC. They loved it and bought it.”
In terms of premise and content, the American incarnation, which is also produced by Lion Television, is relatively unchanged from its British beginnings. However, the original version is only a half-hour per episode and includes participation of law enforcement, which is structured differently across the “Big Pond” than stateside.
According to Tackaberry, “Thief” was an easy sell to the U.S. market. As one of the United States’ largest cable networks and a specialist in real-world entertainment, the Discovery Channel proved to be a logical home for “It Takes a Thief” (check local listings for airtime).
“Very early on, we showed it to the Discovery Channel and they reacted very positively very quickly,” he says. “What was great was they were quick and decisive, and did not want anything major changed. We were delighted to be working with them.”
The deal between Lion Television and the Discovery Channel was struck in mid-2004, with production beginning in December 2004. The initial agreement called for 40 episodes to be shot in just six months. To accommodate the accelerated schedule, and with each program requiring about six weeks to complete, four separate production teams were assembled with each assuming responsibility for 10 episodes.
“I believe we benefited from it being a show made before, which eliminated a lot of traditional challenges,” states Tackaberry. “The order from Discovery was big, which made it tough to deliver on schedule. The production has run incredibly well and gone very smoothly.”
With just a few months between Discovery Channel “green-lighting” “Thief” and the day tape was set to roll, there remained several pieces to put into place. Among those was a casting call to find the show’s hosts, a search for a security guru to oversee the technical side of the production, selection of security equipment and service providers, identifying locations and soliciting volunteers.
