Jericho NY, May 19, 2003 – AMC has given a green light to THE HOLLYWOOD HUNT CLUB, a new original fall series about the wild adventures of the working paparazzi, it was announced today by Rob Sorcher, AMC’s Senior Vice President, Programming and Production. The series follows a one-hour original special that will premiere on August 25 at 10 pm on AMC.
The special will air as part of AMC’s ongoing documentary showcase, THE AMC PROJECT, a monthly experimental series that provides fresh, unconventional perspectives on the evolution and impact of Hollywood culture. The series takes a close up look at the business and the personalities that thrive on candid snapshots of America’s favorite celebrities.
Paparazzi – they’re the big game hunters of the world of entertainment, adrenaline junkies who will follow the gossip grapevine, hide in dumpsters, hang from helicopters and race from airport to after-hours clubs in hopes of capturing that A-list celebrity in an off-screen, candid moment. Sometimes they bag the “money shot,” more often they end up with nothing. There’s always a great story behind the photos they shoot – not about the stars, but the incredible lengths to which Hollywood’s 24-hour corps of roving paparazzi will go to in their efforts to outfox celebrities, and each other.
“Paparazzi are an important part of the Hollywood myth-making machine,” said Rob Sorcher. “This series will provide anyone who is fascinated with the fame game an interesting perspective on the real lives of the stars and the surreal adventures of the highly profitable cottage industry made up of the people who record and make news of their every move.”
Each episode of THE HOLLYWOOD HUNT CLUB is part detective story/part safari, as real-life paparazzi unravel tips and rumors to chase down and hopefully capture the stars in their natural habitat. The first episode of THE HOLLYWOOD HUNT CLUB chronicles the adventures of three competitive paparazzi who work for Bauer-Griffin, Hollywood’s most successful celebrity photo agency.
Some of the most experienced names in the business tell how they find humor and thrills in a job that is filled with celebrity stakeouts. Photo agency head Frank Bauer comments: “We take it seriously, but it is still cowboys and Indians… It’s a crude form of existence – you go out and take a picture and you can afford to buy a sandwich at the end of the day.” To photographers, the biggest lure of this career choice, aside from the money, may be the potential for excitement, the incredible rush. “I never touched a drug in my life. So this is the closest thing I’ll get to it,” comments one of the photographers.
THE HOLLYWOOD HUNT CLUB is produced by Max Weissman and Matthew Levine of Departure Films for AMC. Max Weissman, founder, has produced and directed a wide variety of documentary projects and worked on several hit series, including: AMC’s “Behind the Screen,” HBO’s “Real Sex” and The Learning Channel’s “Trauma: Life in the E.R.” He is an award-winning editor for HBO’s original programming, including shows “Roe vs. Roe” and “G-String Divas.” Producer Matthew Levine is an Emmy Award-winning producer and has worked on the hit NBC shows “Saturday Night Live” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.” He was also part of the development team for the hit HBO series “Oz” and “From The Earth To The Moon.”
AMC is a 24-hour, movie-based network, dedicated to the American movie fan. The network, which reaches over 84,000,000 homes, offers a comprehensive library of popular movies and an increasingly visible, critically- acclaimed slate of original programming that is a diverse, movie-based mix of original series, documentaries and specials. AMC has more than doubled its original programming over the past 3 years and garnered many of the industry’s highest honors, including seven Emmy awards. AMC is “TV for movie people.”
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