High Noon Entertainment, the company behind cable TV hits Cake Boss, Cool Tools, House Hunters, and more, is seeking LGBT families in the process of adoption or creating a family through surrogacy, as well as birthmothers.
Below is the e-mail I received from casting director Michelle Chihara:
I’m a casting director with High Noon Entertainment (http://www.highnoontv.com). We’re working with a major cable network on a new series about adoption. We’re producing a documentary series about the real-life joy, laughter and heartache that American families experience, from all sides of the adoption process.
We are particularly interested in finding and LGBT couple or single parent about to adopt a baby, or have a baby with a surrogate.
We’re looking for dynamic people from all walks of life who have a current, compelling story focused on the adoption process. I have heard so many beautiful, amazing stories about adoption already. But our challenge is that we need people who are in the process *right now*. We are looking for families about to adopt a baby in the next 3 to 7 months, or birthmothers due in the next 2 to 7 months.
Interested candidates should contact me ASAP. Participating families and birthmothers will receive some compensation and support.
—
Michelle Chihara
Casting Director, Adoption Project
High Noon TV
mchihara@highnoontv.com
310-943-5001
In a follow-up call I had with Michelle, she said that they might also be interested in LGBT families trying to create a family through surrogacy or those using donor insemination, but that their primary interest is in adoption. Mostly, they want “dynamic” people who are willing to share their story. The time commitment would be about a day or two per week for a few months.
She assured me this wasn’t going to be “gotcha” reality TV, but rather a documentary. The tone of the series, she said, will be “somewhere between Cake Boss and My First Place. We’re looking for characters and moments.”
She would not reveal which cable network this will be on, but said it would be a major national network.
Please contact Michelle via phone or e-mail if you are interested, and please tell her you heard about this through Mombian!
I talked to her, too, about the ethical implications of having cameras following an expectant mother making an adoption plan and the coercive nature of having this filmed so that she is more deeply defined as a “birth mother” before she’s signed the surrenders. She seemed pretty disinterested in these issues but then she’s just the casting director.