Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

What is reality anyway?

That's a question that confronted television producer and Louisville native Bruce Romans as he crafted “Southern Belles: Louisville,” the River City's first foray into big-time reality TV.

Airing on the Disney/ABC-owned cable channel SoapNet, “Southern Belles” is part “The Real Housewives of Orange County” and part “Sex And The City” with a splash of Kentucky bourbon.

The show, which was taped in Louisville last year, revolves around the lives of quintet of Louisville glamour-pusses: Emily Gimmel, Shea Johnson, Kellie Frey, Hadley Hartz and Julie Smith, all of whom come complete with their own storylines.

Johnson is the rich girl waiting for her boyfriend to propose so she can start her life.

“I'm in a different place in life than the other girls because I'm looking to get engaged, whereas the other girls are very much single,” said Johnson, who grew up in affluent Glenview. “That sets my character aside from the other girls. It's interesting, because they are telling me about their dates, and I'm, ‘Been there, done that.' I'm really glad that that time period has passed “

Johnson, 29, is portrayed as totally at peace with her privileged life, which includes flying to Chicago in a private plane to shop for engagement rings. Viewers get to sit in on a consultation in which the least-expensive ring is $250,000.

“I just hope people really get to know the true me and don't (just) see the family house or the family stuff,” she said. “I hope the audience gets to know me on a deeper level on that.”

Hartz, 26, is caught between two suitors and is portrayed as the girl next door.

“I grew up in a ‘Leave It To Beaver' household,' she said. “I am what I am, take it or leave it. You like me or you don't.”

Frey, 32, is a two-time high-society divorcee learning to stand on her own two feet. Deciding to share herself with millions of strangers wasn't easy for her.

“I did have reservations,” Frey said. “But I ultimately decided that if I revealed something I did it for a reason, for someone to learn something from my experience.”

Smith's goal is to break back into the modeling biz and find a man. “Belles” is her second shot at reality TV; she was on the fourth season of “The Bachelor,” but got booted off before she could make an impression. (She thinks it was because she was too quiet.)

When “Belles” started filming, she had to overcome her tendency to stay private and proper.

“According to the producers, I was a tough nut to crack,” said 35-year-old Smith, who works for Metro United Way. “The reality show thing has fallen into my lap twice now. Lightning has struck twice.”

Smith has high hopes for her post-Belles modeling career. “I hope clients start calling up the wazoo,” she said.

And Gimmel, 24, is a career-driven entertainment reporter who describes herself as “The anti-Southern Belle.”

For her part, she was already something of a local celebrity when “Belles” came calling. At 18, Gimmel landed a gig as reporter for a Lexington TV station, a stint marked by an embarrassing DUI arrest. She now covers the Las Vegas party scene for the Internet TV channel 702.tv.

“I represent modern independence. I'm definitely a go-getter,” she said. “I break a lot of stereotypes that people would think that exist in women who live in Kentucky … on the show you see me decide whether or not I'm going to turn my back on my family traditions and the family business and discover my own dreams.”

Rumors have already started circulating about the authenticity of “Southern Belles.” A local blogger, for example, reported that the dating service Frey started running on the show was cooked up to give her something to do, a charge Romans only partially refuted.

“The true real story is Kellie wanted to start a business of her own and she talked to the producers and that's what they decided on,” Romans says. “In all honesty, the producers helped with it … anything we assisted in, like with Kellie's business, supported what was going on in their real lives.”

Such setups aren't rare in the reality TV landscape, which is busting at the seams with “Belles”-like gal pal shows.

“It's sort of ‘hyper-reality.' I think they might suggest certain situations that would heighten the drama,” said Ingela Ratledge, a senior editor at TV Guide. “No one wants to sit around and watch paint dry.”

Ratledge cited a situation from “The Real Housewives of New York.”

Recently, Simon van Kempen, the husband of “Housewife” Alex McCord on the Bravo show, told her that producers tried to get the couple to take a Pilates lesson on the beach during a Hamptons getaway. But he refused, arguing that it would have been uncharacteristic. He told Ratledge he would've been up for it during the first season, but in the show's second season, he's trying to be more true to himself.

Romans concededs that reality shows have to be planned to a degree.

“Before we even started shooting the show, we had story meetings, because you do have story meetings (to decide) what we are going to focus on,” he said. “We really had to dig into them to find out what their secrets were and try to tell their stories. We tried to stay as absolutely close to their personal lives as possible. Of course, with editing, we show more of one aspect than another. But we didn't write scripts for them.”

Nor were the “Belles” exactly randomly chosen. Romans was already friends with Frey and Hartz, and they helped him find the three other Belles.

“They all knew each other peripherally or pretty well,” he said. “They weren't necessarily all best friends.”

So why did he select Hartz and Frey in the first place?

“I think they're both great women and they're both very candid which I knew would be important,” he said.

Romans, who was born in Shively and is the brother of thoroughbred trainer Dale Romans, came to “Southern Belles” without any prior reality show experience. His previous work includes writing the script for the 2005 film “How You Look To Me,” which was set in Louisville and starred Frank Langella.

“I'm a scripted writer,” Romans says. “That's why I became a partner in it and why I was able to have a lot of influence. I wasn't tainted by other reality shows and I kind of came to it with a fresh set of eyes, from a storytelling point of view, as opposed to creating drama for a half hour.”

For the five Belles, the show has also been a crash course in modern media marketing.

There is an enormous billboard of the Belles in Times Square, and the women are already becoming tabloid fodder: Star magazine recently reported that Gimmel was seen canoodling with Nick Lachey at the Kentucky Derby.

“The tabloids have definitely been milking that for all its worth,” Gimmel said. “We were spotted hanging out together Derby weekend. Nick is someone who I've known through mutual friends for a long time. Nick is a great guy and is a Derby regular and we were just having fun. It was just two friends having fun at the Derby hanging out; nothing more, nothing less.”

The real scoop is that Lachey was hitting on Hadley.

“Yes, he was flirting with me,” Hartz said. Added Frey: “He was a little sweet on Hadley.”

SoapNet has made the show a cross-promotional juggernaut. Products the Belles are helping promote include Essie nail polish (which created “Belles”-inspired shades) and Pama Pomegranate Liqueur (which has developed a “Southern Belles” cocktail). A couple weeks ago, three of the Belles made an appearance at Sephora in Oxmoor Center for a promotion with Tarte cosmetics and Pama.

Does this off-camera bonding (filming has long been completed) suggest that the Belles have developed genuine lifelong friendships? Or, considering that conflict is the engine that drives a successful reality TV show, have any lifelong grudges formed as well?

Frey, who appears to be a quick study in the ways of show business, offered a savvy non-answer.

“We know what we said, we know how we feel about each other,” she said. “At the end of the day, it is a TV show. It needs to be entertaining.”