Troy DeVolld

Troy DeVolld was born in Zanesville, Ohio on November 17, 1970 to Robert and Gail DeVolld. He is a 1988 graduate of Brandon Senior High School in Brandon, Florida. After briefly attending Flagler College as a Fine Art major, DeVolld was presented with the opportunity to write some television commercials for the Jefferson Mint. From there, he went on to write for shows like Prime Network's "Fight Night Showcase" and WB32 Tampa's "Billy's Bogs B Movies" before eventually enrolling at Full Sail University, a media school in Winter Park, Florida. A 1996 graduate of the film and video program at the school, he was later honored as the ninth graduate of the school to be inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2010. DeVolld's career in national television began in late 2000, with a stint as a logger / transcriptionist on the Mtv show "Fear," where he rose to the level of producer quickly owing to the explosion of reality television spurred by the success of "Survivor" the same year. DeVolld then lucked into working on the celebrity reality smash "The Osbournes," and has continued to work steadily ever since -- earning a shared nomination for his work on Style Network's "Split Ends" in 2009. In 2010, Troy began work on what would soon become the definitive text on reality television production, "Reality TV," which was released the following year by Michael Wiese Productions. The bestseller made its debut at number one on Amazon's Television Reference list. The second edition of the book repeated that success in 2016, even as Troy's second book, "And Another Thing: A Beginner's Guide to the Television Notes Process" made its debut. Both books have enjoyed success both within and beyond academic use. DeVolld, in addition to his producing life, also lectures on reality and nonfiction production at universities and seminar series all over the world, notably with the TV Writers Summit in London and Tel Aviv and various University Film and Video Association events. He is an avid collector of vintage television remotes and lives in Sunland, California with his cat, Zoe.