HOLLYWOOD Q&A

Q: I am an every-week watcher of “Lucky Dog” and am wondering who compensates Brandon for the dog training and TurfMutt for the backyard makeovers?

A: You could say that being in the show is compensation in itself. Or, put another way, they compensate each other.

“Lucky Dog,” a weekend morning show built around dog trainer Brandon McMillan, is sponsored by TurfMutt, which means not only does that company provide its backyard makeovers free of charge, it actually pays the show’s producers for the privilege. The idea is that the exposure TurfMutt gets on the show will lead other people to hire them to work on their own yards.

Some of the money TurfMutt pays for this exposure is funneled to McMillan as his salary for doing the show.

However, he benefits from the exposure, too. When he’s not rescuing and training troubled pups for the show, McMillan also writes books about dog training and works as a trainer-for-hire on the side —

he boasts “a long list of Hollywood celebrities” among his clientele.

All this means the families who appear on the show don’t pay a cent (nor do the dogs, for that matter — even the ones who end up with jobs out of the deal).

Q: What is happening with Vanessa Helsing? We were with her sister and mother the last couple episodes with no clues on her status after getting shot. When will we see her again?

A: The prophecies say that Vanessa Helsing will rise again, sometime in the fall TV season (the prophecies are pretty light on details).

We can take the prophecies at their word, because they come from the show’s writers as well as from Kelly Overton, also known as Vanessa Helsing herself.

Vanessa, cleverly nicknamed Van so that the show can be called “Van Helsing” despite not featuring legendary vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing, will return in the third season. We know this because star Overton posted a video on Instagram of herself in character, saying, “That’s a wrap on season 3!”

This is exciting news for fans, because it at least says that her character’s not dead, which was far from certain by the end of season 2 (bearing in mind that “dead” is a relative term in a vampire show).

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