Production of new TV series now underway, Ottawa and area homeowners to be featured
Posted Jul 29, 2010 By Phil Ambroziak
Email
Print
Tweet ThisEMC Entertainment - Local homeowners now have the opportunity to become small screen stars.
The Ottawa-based Mountain Road Productions has begun filming episodes of All For Nothing, its new reality TV series for the W Network featuring Ottawa and area families looking to prepare their homes for the real estate market.
"We just finished shooting the first episode and are currently shooting the second one," explained Lisa Nault, the show's producer.
According to an official news release, All For Nothing is one-part design transformation series and one-part fast-paced real estate drama. It's a one-hour TV series that pits homeowner against homeowner in a competition to ready their neglected homes for sale with only two weeks to complete the transformation. Earlier this year, Mountain Road issued a casting call for potential participants.
"We've found a few families to be part of the show, but we're still on the hunt for more homeowners," Ms. Nault said. "We've been lucky enough to find a variety of people from different neighbourhoods, but our first episode was shot in Barrhaven."
The citywide casting call also resulted in Mountain Road securing the services of real estate agent Paul Rushforth and award-winning designer Penny Southam to host the program.
"We're excited to have Paul and Penny hosting the show," Ms. Nault continued. "We were impressed with Penny's extensive experience and I was lucky enough to meet an acquaintance of Paul's who said we had to have him on the show."
Ms. Southam, who has worked with Mountain Road on a past TV project, is known for creating inner spaces with modern lines and classic elements always with an emphasis on function.
Her portfolio consists of commercial, hospitality and residential design for a client list that extends to Vancouver and New York.
"They (Mountain Road) approached me to do this show because on the previous show (Design U), I tended to take a no holds barred approach and that approach is what they were looking for in this show," Ms. Southam said. "So far it's been going great - it's been a lot of fun."
The show, which will debut this fall, is expected to be jam-packed full of ideas and tips from the hosts while motivation will be high as the two sets of homeowners will be competing for a money-saving prize the commission-free listing services of Mr. Rushforth.
"They asked me to come out and audition for the show," Mr. Rushforth said. "They liked my presence and because I also have a radio show and played pro hockey for 10 years, I am comfortable in front of the camera. They also liked my no-nonsense attitude."
Mr. Rushforth will give the featured homeowners advice on where to invest their "sweat equity" while his tough-love approach will keep the homeowners focused on maximizing the profit on the sale of their home.
"The show has a great concept," Mr. Rushforth said. "Everyone loves real estate and getting their homes ready to sell. The winner on each episode will receive my services commission-free and I guarantee the sale of their home - if it doesn't sell, I'll buy it myself."
Ms. Southam described the homeowners featured on the show thus far as being hard working and fun to be around, adding that working with Mr. Rushforth can be hilarious.
"Both of us pretty much say it as we see it," she said. "Some times our ideas clash and we don't always edit what we say to each other. The chemistry between us is real, which will make for really great TV."
She added that each episode is going to be different because each home featured is different in its own unique way.
Mr. Rushforth remarked how much more goes into a television production than he anticipated.
"There's all the lighting and the sound - I thought it was going to be just someone following me around with a camera, but this whole thing is unbelievably professional," he said.
Mountain Road Productions was founded more than a decade ago and has produced other television series for the W Network including The Restaurant Adventures of Caroline and Dave and the popular Design U for HGTV.
As stated, the show is looking for even more candidates to be featured on upcoming episodes.
Homeowners can get more details by visiting the Mountain Road website at www.mountainroad.ca and clicking the "casting" tab or by e-mailing Sonja Osberg at sonja@mountainroad.ca.
blog comments powered by Disqus
