From Bethesda Magazine: 8 questions for Jason Beekman of ‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’

April 28, 2026 4:04 p.m.

A recent Netflix docuseries called Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model is all about the drama and the stories behind that reality TV show, which aired from 2003 to 2018. “In the first episode, I wanted to make sure that in the beginning, you can’t help but laugh at what they put the models through, the waxing, for example,” says Jason Beekman, 40, a co-executive producer of the docuseries who grew up in North Potomac and lives in Los Angeles. “But then I made sure at the end of the first episode that you see the models reflect on that airing and how it hurt them.” Beekman also wanted audiences to be reflective. “The whole point of the show was to be kind of a mirror to society and the audience,” he says.

Growing up, Beekman took dance and voice classes at Musical Theater Center in Rockville, performing in shows there and at Thomas S. Wootton High School, also in Rockville. After graduating from Wootton in 2004 and from Cornell University and Cornell Law School, he worked for a law firm in Washington, D.C., for a couple of years in government and regulatory litigation. He moved to New York City in 2019 to work for the production company RadicalMedia, eventually becoming a vice president.

In 2023, Beekman started Wise Child Studios, which co-produced Reality Check with EverWonder Studio. The show debuted at number one on Netflix’s Top 10 English list in February, staying in that spot for a week and reaching Netflix’s global number one spot. The docuseries had views by more than 14 million subscriber accounts in its first week.

Beekman recently co-produced a feature film called On the End and executive produced the documentary feature ASCO: Without Permission, and he’s working on a true crime series that’s in production.

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This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Did you watch America’s Next Top Model when it was out?

I’ve been a lifelong fan, and it has a particularly important place for me because I didn’t really come out until law school, and I remember just watching it and being so impressed with the Jays [Miss J and Jay Manuel, two key figures on the show] and their open gayness, and just seeing that on mainstream TV. It really stuck with me.

Filming on set. Photo credit: Courtesy Netflix

What was your role as a producer for Reality Check?

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For this project, for example, or what my company does generally is we kind of are soup to nuts. I came up with the concept. I wanted to look back at the impact of early reality TV and I developed the project. I built a relationship with all of the models and the judges to book them, as they say, to get access. I built out the creative and then I pitched it to the network. I was an on-the-ground, hands-on producer from the beginning through delivery to Netflix. I still do all the legal for our company, but I’m also our lead creative producer.

So did you just start reaching out to all the people involved?

Yeah, I think it’s an interesting process, because it’s not like a scripted show where actors get paid, or even a reality show where people are getting paid and where there’s a prize. Getting people to sit down and talk about their own experience in very personal ways is very hard. You have to build a really strong relationship and trust, especially since no one on the show had any approval rights. I was adamant that I wanted this to be a really journalistic endeavor. Documentary filmmaking has really come a long way, I would say, not for the better in many ways, [with] celebrity [producers] or celebrities approving their own projects. This was kind of old-school filmmaking, and so it took a long time.

It really started with Miss J because I knew that I’d have a connection with them. I watched them all these years, and I couldn’t figure out where they had gone. They were notonline for over a year, and it was kind of weird, because they were a huge personality. So when I reached out to his team, that’s when I found out that he was in a rehab facility because he had had a stroke. I met Miss J bedside at the rehab facility in New York. Everything kind of stemmed from that. I really bonded with him, and he introduced me to Jay Manuel and to [photographer and Top Model judge] Nigel [Barker].

How did you convince Tyra Banks, the show’s creator, executive producer and head judge, to be part of it?

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We actually sold the project without Tyra. It was always our intention that we would reach out, but we sold it without her. We were in production, and we reached out and got her to participate. She lives in Australia, so it was actually more of a logistics question of how we would shoot her, but she ended up coming to New York to film a [Today with] Jenna & Friends episode, and we booked her that week. But it wasn’t that challenging to get her participation. I mean, her perspective—crucial—and I wanted to make sure that we gave her the opportunity to speak. None of this creative is preplanned in doc filmmaking, or at least in the journalistic doc filmmaking that I wanted to make. We had a general idea of the creative, but we let everyone speak on camera and then we look at the interviews and piece together the story.

How did you decide which contestants to interview?

I wanted to focus on the first few seasons in particular because that was really what was so groundbreaking. So most of the models are from the earlier seasons, and a range of stories. And I didn’t want anyone booked that had already come out and said their opinion about the show. I wanted the stories to be new and fresh and authentic and organic, and so that’s how we ended up with the group of models.

How did you decide three episodes was the right amount?

A lot of people have said that it should have been four or five. My biggest thing is I hate when I watch a series and the last episode you feel is filler. I like it to be propulsive all the way till the end, and I felt we did that.

What did you do to celebrate the debut of Reality Check?

I hosted a very small friends-and-family screening. And I’ll never forget, I mean, I could cry talking about it, because a lot of people even came up from Maryland, and people that live in New York that I grew up with, many of them have supported me financially and personally while I’ve struggled with this startup. And you know, when you watch Netflix, you don’t watch it with other people. It’s not a theatrical experience. But to have that for this, and to see people laugh together and cry together—I’ll never forget it.

Do you ever come back to Montgomery County?

Oh, for sure. My parents still live in the same house that I grew up in, and so I come back for holidays and to see them, and also to see my friends. I’ve kept my 301 number. And LA is 310. So all the time, people will be like, ‘Did you put a typo?’ And I’m so proud to say, ‘No, it’s a Maryland number.’ I’m keeping my Maryland number. And the joy that people get when it’s another 301 calling me from the industry—it’s always really exciting.

This appears in the May/June 2026 issue of Bethesda Magazine.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine