Arkansas town gets sized up for show

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

A Hollywood casting company has been looking for characters to be in a reality television show about Eureka Springs.

A casting invitation has gone out to the entire town of Eureka Springs, according to castingeureka.com.

The proposed show is titled Welcome to Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

The show could be a cross between The Andy Griffith Show and Portlandia, said Doron Ofir, president of the casting agency that bears his name.

Ofir was referring to the 1960s sitcom about fictional Mayberry, N.C., and the modern satirical sketch comedy that pokes fun at Portland, Ore.

With 2,073 residents, Eureka Springs is considerably smaller than Portland, which has a population of 583,776. But Eureka Springs could be an Ozark Mountain microcosm of the free-spirit lifestyle of Portland, he said.

Co-executive producer Lucas Laur, a Harrison native, said they're talking with about 80 Eureka Springs residents. Applications are still being accepted through the website, but casting will wrap up in a few days, he said.

"I will present my top 30 characters, and the network would decide from there," said Ofir, who declined to reveal the name of the network.

Ofir is currently casting people for 17 different reality shows, not all of which will be produced, he said.

"This is strictly exploratory," he said of the Eureka Springs project. "My job is to literally discover what could be a cast for a show, which would then define whether a show could move forward."

But the Eureka Springs show has potential because of the city's quirkiness, he said.

"It's a celebration of small-town living in the most eccentric and amicable way," he said. "It's like the Lady Gaga of towns. It's a really bizarre thing."

Ofir said he has yet to visit Eureka Springs but plans to soon. In the meantime, some of his staff members have been traveling to Eureka Springs talking to the locals.

At castingeureka.com, Ofir pitches the concept: "Once upon a time there was a place where misfits fit, where winding streets were framed by carefully tended Victorian houses, where the mineral springs magically healed, the hotels were haunted, artists' galleries were revered, and rowdy biker bars invited witches and fairies alike, and the faithful blessed this extraordinary and vibrant mountain town."

Possible characters would include families rooted in the city for generations and even brand-new residents, according to the website.

Although the Eureka Springs show would be reality-based, it would be in the tradition of scripted shows such as Picket Fences, Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure, the website states.

"This is almost like a live sitcom," said Ofir. "Not like a Modern Family. It's more like a throwback to Andy Griffith."

Ofir said applicants must be "organic," not actors who move to Eureka Springs just so they can be on the TV show.

The town is the perfect set for a show, he said.

Teresa DeVito of Eureka Springs said the show would be an opportunity for the town to get more publicity and attract more tourists. She said some residents are concerned because another reality show, Discovery Channel's Clash of the Ozarks, makes fun of the people living in Hardy.

"We don't know what it's going to be," DeVito said of the proposed Eureka Springs show. "It would be silly not to try it. That's my opinion."

Ofir said he doesn't intend to make fun of Eureka Springs residents.

"I don't do shows that are mean-spirited, and I don't do shows that make fun of," he said.

Mike Bishop, president of the Greater Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce, said he hasn't heard from the television producers. One casting person called his office but provided little information, Bishop said.

"Obviously, as reality shows go, we have our concerns as to how the city might be portrayed, so we are hoping for a positive product that will show Eureka Springs and its people in a good light," he said.

Laur said he's excited about the prospect of doing a reality show about a place so close to home.

"I really hope that the show works out," he said in an email. "It could be extremely beneficial for everyone involved."

Ofir has done casting for several television shows, including Jersey Shore, Millionaire Matchmaker and Rich Kids of Beverly Hills.

Eureka Springs has been the backdrop for several movies, including Pass the Ammo (1988), Chrystal (2004), Elizabethtown (2005), Mr. Christmas (2005) and War Eagle, Arkansas (2007). Part of The Blue and the Gray, a 1982 television miniseries, was also filmed in Eureka Springs.

The Eureka Springs City Council is considering tax incentives to attract more movie productions to the tourist town.

State Desk on 05/13/2014