Producing Jeff Lewis Flipping Out, MTV Diary, Selling Sunset (w/ EP Billy Taylor)

Hot Takes & Deep Dives

Jess Rothschild

Rhony, Tv & Film, Andycohen, Rhobh, Realhousewives, Bravotv, Vpr, Rhoc, Bravo, Popculture, Rhop, Pumprules, Bethennyfrankel, Lgbtculture, Rhod, Realhousewivesofnyc, Rhoa, Vanderpumprules

4.7 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jess sits down with powerhouse docu-series Executive Producer Billy Taylor! Topics — Billy's jump from MTV News to producing MTV Diary, then showrunning the Bravo glory days of Jeff Lewis Flipping Out, Work Out w/ Jackie Warner, and Kell on Earth w/ Kelly Cutrone. Plus — trailing Kanye West with a camera, Britney: In the Zone & Out All Night, directing Selling Sunset pilot, and more!

⭐ IG: @jessxnyc

⭐ Jess' docu-series on the rise & fall of SoulCycle — Cult of Body & Soul

⭐ Jess' docu-series on the history, mystique & lore of Fire Island — Finding Fire Island

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to hot takes and deep dives and I am here with longtime MTV and Bravo executive producer, Billy Taylor.
0:23.3	Billy has worked on flipping out with Jeff Lewis, work out with Jackie Warner, MTV Diary, Kelly Katron's reality show.
0:32.0	So much more.
0:33.0	He's worked with Kanye West.
0:35.0	Billy Taylor, we have a lot to talk about.
0:37.9	Yes. Wow. You made it a lot to talk about. Yes.
0:38.4	Wow.
0:38.9	You made it through the wilderness.
0:40.7	Somehow.
0:41.8	Yeah, thank you for having me.
0:43.2	Of course.
0:44.1	Did you study filmmaking?
0:46.6	Like, did you want to be a director?
0:48.2	Like, how did you get into television production?
0:50.7	Did not study it at all.
0:52.5	I got an internship at this, the local CBS affiliate in D.C. called WUSA.
0:59.8	And I worked there all summer. Well, work there for free all summer. And I was like, okay,
1:05.5	well, if I could work anywhere on earth, where would I want to work? And the two answers at the time, which was, this was 1994, my two answers were MTV or
1:17.2	the David Letterman show.
1:19.2	I wanted to work there too because I loved Letterman since I was a kid.
1:23.4	I ended up going to New York, getting the MTV internship and taking that and then started working at MTV News in the fall of 93, January of 94 is when I started there.
1:35.2	Who were the main news guys? And also, who are the main VJs at that time?
	...

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