Ryan Serhant on Why His Real Estate World Makes Such Compelling Reality TV
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
It’s Ryan Serhant’s New York City, we’re just living in it—well, those of us who can afford to are. The luxury listing king has been selling some of the most well-appointed pads in the Big Apple to high-net-worth Manhattanites for over a decade on TV, between his stints on Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing and Sell It Like Serhant. But now he’s moved on up to Netflix with Owning Manhattan, an eight-episode series focusing specifically on his eponymous brokerage, Serhant. Real Estate, which launched in 2020. The 40-year-old, $40 million man deals in superlatives—as he explains in the very first episode, he isn’t satisfied with his nascent firm being the sixth-best, he needs it to be the best. The premiere focuses on his work with the world’s most expensive penthouse, which he reminds us is in the world’s highest residential tower, before explaining that the elevators are the fastest residential elevators on the planet, going on to relay an anecdote about a hypothetical Ping-Pong table placed in the sprawling 131st floor ballroom that would be…the highest Ping-Pong table on the planet.
Serhant is a striver, in permanent motivational speaker mode, and so of course the cast of agents he’s assembled are terrifyingly ambitious. (As for their dynamic, Serhant is referred to both by himself and his employees as “daddy” more than once: “Ryan’s the big papa, gotta make papa proud, right?” one Serhant. employee explains.) In their respective quests to the top of the brokerage, his agents are sound-bite machines, a producer’s dream. Several cast members—including Serhant, who started out as an actor—have entertainment and modeling backgrounds that are well-suited to both the showman’s landscape of NYC real estate and the world of reality TV.
“Kids like watching videos of kids playing with toys; adults like watching videos of people going to work, especially if the work involves high stress with high stakes and is visually appealing,” Serhant tells AD. “So you take a diverse, energetic cast who is not afraid to be completely vulnerable with the world, and you put them on TV in a $200 million apartment, and anything can happen.”
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Below, the star broker talks about his TV-ready agents, his emphasis on the power of social media, and who should play him in a biopic.
Architectural Digest: What about the real estate agent persona makes for such perfect reality TV casting?
Ryan Serhant: You have to remember what it takes to become a real estate agent. First, you have to work for free; there’s no salary, no benefits, no nothing. And if you haven’t made any money that month, you’re paying for it in savings, or you have to get a second job to cover your bases. You have to be somebody who takes risks.
One of the things that I worked really hard on, as a producer on this show (and obviously showcasing our company), was that I don’t want this to be a format. I don’t want to say, “Here’s all the business we do. Yay.” I don’t think people care anymore. I think they want to see a moment in time that’s very, very vulnerable and they want to see the wins, but they also want to see the losses. How you handle failure is, oftentimes, more entertaining and more interesting than how you jump up and down from a win.
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What would you say is the tougher part in your job right now: managing expectations with your clients or managing your own stable of employees?
Oh God. Well, we are at about 750 people now, including agents and employees, so staff. It’s a lot. The market’s been on our side this year so far, so I would say my agents and employees.
Is there a part of you that feels too exposed with it being your own business this time around, or are you so comfortable in that role as a showman that it’s second nature?
Million Dollar Listing New York started for me in 2010, so this is now year 14 for me of cameras following me while I go to work and also for social media. It’s weird when I’m not [on camera].
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How important is cultivating a social media presence in today’s real estate world?
When I got into the business as a real estate agent, the product was your skill set. The more skilled you were as a salesperson, the more business you got. You sold your success. Today, the product is your attention, and the more attention you have—as long as you have the skills to back it up—the more business you’re going to do. So to do a TV show like this, on a global platform, is the product. It’s like the product wars, and we won.
Now watching the show back, have you cringed at anything or wish you’d said or done anything different, or do you stand by it all?
Are there certain things I wish I hadn’t said? Would I have played the moment of letting go of Jonathan [Normolle] or certain things I said to certain cast members a little bit differently? Possibly. But you know what? It’s me. Ask anyone who’s ever met me: The first thing they say within 30 seconds is, “You’re just like you are on TV!” And then my reaction is, “What did you expect?” I’m too busy to try to pretend to be somebody else, I don’t have that kind of bandwidth.
Who would play you in the Serhant biopic?
Ryan Reynolds.
What would you say is your career pipe dream—are you living it right now?
Dude, I pull up in a bright blue Range Rover.
A Serhant. blue Range Rover?
A Serhant. blue Range Rover, to my building in SoHo, with my name all over it, that I took from Tommy Hilfiger. I can’t even believe that I’m here right now. I’ve been super fortunate for all the people that are around me, and I wouldn’t be here without the fans and without our audience. I wasn’t the one that watched 512 million minutes of our show last week. We’re a real estate show. How is that possible? [It] wasn’t me.
Do you anticipate a season two?
I don’t know. I have no idea. But my whole life is a season two, so I’m like, “I’m ready to go.” They could show up with cameras today. Today was brutal. It would’ve been a great episode.
Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
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