Review – Make Me Famous

Reggie Yates’ new drama details the story of Billy Fearon, a contestant from a Love Island style reality show, Love or Lust; who’s star is beginning to fade after his time in the shoe.

We see scenes from 18 months earlier, during the interview that got him a spot as a cast member on the show, alongside scenes from his current life. We then see how things went from good to bad to worse for the reality star. As new cast members gain fame, he is less in demand and therefore makes less money doing PAs, with a minimal brand endorsement deal he begins struggling to make ends meet and everyday he’s the topic of more and more trolling tweets.

As the film goes on, Billy is struggling more and more, he’s not great with posting brand promo and begins to dread having to do so multiple times a day, the tweets are becoming more and more incessant, and without giving away too much, things take a drastic turn for the worse.

This film has done a really a great job of showing how fleeting and fickle fame really can be; I’ve always said I don’t want to be famous but this has further confirmed that to me.

As silly as this may sound, I never actually thought about how people’s words over the internet can hurt someone. Yeah, we know about #bekind and all of that and mental health awareness but in reality, how many of us truly understand the gravity of our words especially what we say to celebrities over the internet?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a troll, but I’m just saying. As fans we can say something that isn’t even meant to be malicious or hurtful but could be interpreted that way by the reader, and on the flip side so many people say hurtful things thinking that the recipient may never see it or won’t be fazed by it, but in reality they probably will be.

I think this film will also be an eye opener to people who think

fame will have them set for life;

I’m sorry, but it won’t.

Having money and fame is al well and good but if you don’t know what to do with it and make it work for yourself then it’s pretty useless.

“I’ve got blue ticks, millions of followers and I can’t even pay my f***ing phone bill!” Billy says in one scene, and I really think this sums up what is the reality for some former reality stars, everybody loves you when you’re hot but nobody cares when you’re not.

The film is written by Reggie Yates, and stars Tom Brittney as Billy and former Hollyoaks actress Emma Rigby as Michelle as his love interest from the show, who has now become a part of his support system.the film can be viewed on BBC iPlayer.