First daytime network reality show
to shoot in Chicago this month

“Starting Over,” the first network daytime reality series, shoots in Chicago through the end of the year.

Bunim/Murray Productions is days away from beginning production in Chicago on “Starting Over,” the first daytime reality show on network television.

“Things are very hectic right now,” said series producer Jim Johnston, a vet of Bunim/Murray’s MTV reality series “The Real World” and “Road Rules.” “We’re racing to start shooting and get things on the air by September.”

“Starting Over” premieres locally Sept. 8 on Ch. 5. The series is syndicated by NBC Enterprises Domestic Syndication and has been purchased by NBC affiliates and other stations covering 80% of the country, Johnston said.

The show brings together a group of women at turning points in their lives to reside in the same house in Chicago. Under the watchful eye of Bunim/Murray’s cameras, the women will endeavor to reinvent their romantic lives, careers and financial futures, and will “graduate” from the house when they succeed, only to be replaced by new women with new problems. Ch. 5 held an open casting call for participants in April. Johnston said that some but not all of the women have been cast and the house has been selected.

Bunim/Murray is hiring about 40 local technicians and production staff to work for the six-to- seven month duration of the shoot, Johnston said, including local producer Cliff Grant.

“The overwhelming majority of our hires are local, though we are bringing in a few people from out of town,” Johnston said. “We are pretty much done hiring at this point, and we’ll have wrapped everything up by the end of the week,” he predicted at the end of May. There are still some jobs open in postproduction, which will be done in Los Angeles, he said.

“Starting Over” is slated to run for 52 weeks, Monday through Friday. Johnston would not speculate about whether the series was likely to remain in Chicago if it is renewed for additional seasons. “You’ve got to get this thing on the air and makes it works first,” he said. “Whether they keep it in this city, I don’t think anybody knows.”

Van Nuys, California-based Bunim/Murray is also responsible for reality series “Making the Band” on ABC and MTV, and “Love Cruise: The Maiden Voyage” on Fox. The company released its first feature film in April, “The Real Cancun,” also in the reality format.

Reach Bunim/Murray Productions at 818/756-5253 or bunim-murray.com.
– by Ed M. Koziarski, edk@homesickblues.com