DENVER’S GROWING ROLE IN REALITY TV PRODUCTION
“Cabin Rescue” builds on Denver area’s growing role in reality TV production
Throw another log on Colorado’s reality-TV fire. Shot in Conifer in July, the pilot episode of “Cabin Rescue” debuted on the Great American Country network on Tuesday, with additional airings on Great American Country and DIY Network.
Producers have high hopes for the show, which adds to the growing list of niche but national-reaching series produced in the Denver metro area.
“Cabin Rescue” follows upbeat engineer and ex-forester Alex Charvat of Alexander Structures, Inc. as he rehabilitates historic log cabins and spruces up mountain luxury homes.
“I’ve worked with hundreds of log cabins over the years,” Charvat, 43, said over the phone on break from an elk-hunting trip outside Steamboat Springs this week. “Most of those other reality shows are just contractors pounding nails, and we
do that too. Fundamentally we’re a ‘fix-and-flip’ with logs, but I have a degree in engineering and forestry, so there’s a lot science behind it.”
In the pilot, Charvat restores a Conifer cabin built in 1870, which was definitively dated by examining the age of the tree rings (a method known as dendrochronology). Due to its historic status, Charvat and his crew faced the tricky job of preserving the cabin’s structure even as it threatened to cave in on itself — all on a relatively modest $20,000 budget.
“They had to basically build a new skeleton inside the old structure without altering the character of the original,” said Matt Assmus, showrunner and executive producer for “Cabin Rescue.” “We identified exactly what species (of tree) it was and made sure to cut down the same lodgepole pines. And we at least attempted to carve the logs they same way they would have in 1870, but realized it was going to be too difficult and took the lumber to sawmill.”
Since July, cabin owner Dale Bleck has used the restored cabin for entertaining and parties, having outfitted the finished structure as a “standing bar” saloon — the likes of which were originally built for saddle-sore pioneers and cowboys.
Charvat took Bleck to Denver’s historic Buckhorn Exchange for research and inspiration, since the Buckhorn features a standing bar built six to eight inches higher than the ones designed for sitting on stools.
“There’s been a lot of interest in this cabin life, and the cabins of yesteryear are not cabins of today,” said Chris Dorsey, whose Littleton-based Dorsey Pictures produces nearly two-dozen reality-TV shows on 10 different networks, including HGTV’s “Tiny House Big Living” and DIY’s “The Treehouse Guys.” “There’s this fascination and romance with cabins, but they can also be more contemporary with a lot of light and high ceilings. There’s not just these dingy things anymore.”
Like other Dorsey Pictures shows, “Cabin Rescue” capitalizes on viewer interest in residential restoration and improvements, as well as the fixerupper genre in general. DIY Network’s “Raise the Roof,” which is shot in Denver, premiered in August, while Velocity’s “The Lifted Life” — which follows Golden-based Five-R Truck and its customized four-by-fours — announced its third season earlier this month.
“We put up a casting notice for this (‘Cabin Rescue’) pilot in local mountain-town newspapers and had probably 50 submissions within two days,” Assmus said.
“We’re pretty confident in the show getting picked up, because another one of our series called ‘Maine Cabin Masters’ did very well in testing and is coming on with a full season soon. We also do ‘Building Alaska,’ ‘Kodiak’ and ‘Living Big Sky’ and we’re based in the Rocky Mountains. It’s our brand and we understand the lifestyle out here.”
Reality shows filmed in whole or part in Colorado are nothing new. Next month marks the 10th anniversary of MTV’s “The Real World: Denver,” and shows such as Discovery’s “Blue Collar Backers” and Fuse’s “Clash of the Corps” feature segments recently filmed in Colorado. Discovery’s “Treasure Quest: Snake Island” and Travel Channel’s “Everest Air” will also feature Boulder adventure experts such as Mehgan Heaney-Grier and Jeff Evans, respectively, in the coming weeks.
But between the 16-yearold Dorsey Pictures (formerly Orion Entertainment; no relation to the film company) and Aurora’s busy High Noon Entertainment — which produces “Cake Boss,” “Fixer Upper,” “Food Network Challenge” and many others — the low-profile role that Colorado companies play in the national realityTV genre may be coming to an end.
“(Denver) is a much bigger TV center than people realize,” said Dorsey, 51, whose sold a majority stake in his 130-employee Dorsey Pictures to Germany’s Red Arrow Entertainment in January for at least $50 million, according to Variety.
“There’s a very big audience in the heartland for the outdoor adventure and reality shows we produce, and that authenticity is one thing we can offer audiences over L.A. or New York companies.”
Shows like “Cabin Rescue” also showcase Colorado businesses in a way that paid advertising can scarcely touch, producers said. The pilot, for example, features the work of Evergreen’s Apex Electric, Pine’s Jenkins Construction and Brighton’s Sashco, Inc.
“I’m not a jack of all trades. For this show, I bring in the masters of the trade and then manage that,” said Charvat, a Wisconsin native who lives in a cabin in Conifer with his wife and three girls. “Denver’s one of the fastest growing cities right now because there’s still this mystique of the Wild West, and that goes perfectly with the whole log cabin theme.”