ABC seeks homesteading families! $20,000

ABCTV · #1 07/21/06, 09:50 AM

Dear Sir or Madam,

I'm a Casting Producer with ABC Television and I’m looking for hardworking, tight knit, wholesome homesteading families to feature on our upcoming show! I came across this website online and would love to feature one of you on our program – so many families out there could benefit from seeing a family like yours on the show. Our show is a documentary style program that allows two families from the US to learn about a different family’s lifestyle – while also teaching another family about their own (in your case, life on the homestead).

The name of our hit ABC family show is Wife Swap! Please don't be confused by the title - Wife Swap is a family show on ABC primetime. The premise is simple: two moms from two very different families get the opportunity to swap lives (but not bedrooms - everyone has their own private room with a lock!) for one week to experience what it's like to live a different lifestyle - and to see what they can teach each other about their own! In this case we're looking to feature the hard work and dedication that goes into homesteading. We know that other families could learn so much from your teamwork and work ethic

All featured families will receive a $20,000 financial honorarium as a thank-you for their ten day time commitment (we film for ten days but the swap only lasts for 7) - and $1000 goes to anyone who refers a family that makes it on the show! I would love to chat with you further about your family and our show if you’re interested. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Best,

Heather Teta
Casting Producer
ABC Television’s Wife Swap
RDF Media
212-404-1428
Heather.Teta@rdfusa.com

jnap31 · #2 07/21/06, 09:56 AM

Here is a long thread 7pages on another forum in response to this think you may like it
http://forums.homestead.org/forum_po...?TID=3607&PN=1

AnEarthMonkey · #3 07/21/06, 10:04 AM

Hello, I am a widower with a family of one. Am I welcome to be on your show?

mpillow · #4 07/21/06, 10:16 AM

Yeah I wanna know what happens when my goats arent milked because the non-homesteader woman is incapable or completing the task twice a day....and mastitis sets in...will you foot the vet bill and replace lost milk?... or slopping the pigs makes her toss her lunch (hopefully into the pig feeder

)

When my husband refuses to go out to eat or buy processed food (or cook after working all day) will my kids be fed?...Will you film my husband going outside to urinate on the corn patch?

(It keeps predators away and provides nitrogen to corn) Will my harvest be properly canned/frozen? We dont have AC so sometimes we wait and can/freeze(blanching) late at night so the house stays cool.

What if it's deer season and she has to hold the legs while hubby guts? What if the wood-fire is not tended and/or not tended properly and water pipes freeze or smoke/fire damages???

Will the person watch my children and hold their hands in public?

Chuck · #5 07/21/06, 11:16 AM

I'd love to see someone from this site do this - but would want to be reassured that the purpose was not to make homesteaders look like backwards-thinking luddites.

I think it'd be cool if you could find an amish family who would agree to do your show. Not likely, but the culture clash would be amazing.

mpillow · #6 07/21/06, 11:23 AM

I think its an awful small amount of $$ for a homesteader's dignity

Chuck · #7 07/21/06, 11:29 AM

I've watched the show once or twice, and was amazed at how some people live. I think that's really the point of the show - to highlight different cultures that families have. Granted, sometimes one or the other of the families makes you go, "I can't believe anyone would actually live like that." But I think that's the feeling they are going for.

I think it would be better if they didn't go for the absolutely psycho families, though. Did anyone see the one where the wife was like thinking everyone was posessed by some evil spirit?

I also saw the one where the family from New Jersey or someplace had the kids who were so rotten I wanted to pop their little heads. It amazes me how some people ruin their children.

But I don't think anyone can take your dignity from you unless you give it up. You could be on the show and still have your dignity.

longshadowfarms · #8 07/21/06, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpillow

Yeah I wanna know what happens when my goats arent milked because the non-homesteader woman is incapable or completing the task twice a day....and mastitis sets in...will you foot the vet bill and replace lost milk?... or slopping the pigs makes her toss her lunch (hopefully into the pig feeder

)

When my husband refuses to go out to eat or buy processed food (or cook after working all day) will my kids be fed?...Will you film my husband going outside to urinate on the corn patch?

(It keeps predators away and provides nitrogen to corn) Will my harvest be properly canned/frozen? We dont have AC so sometimes we wait and can/freeze(blanching) late at night so the house stays cool.

What if it's deer season and she has to hold the legs while hubby guts? What if the wood-fire is not tended and/or not tended properly and water pipes freeze or smoke/fire damages???

Will the person watch my children and hold their hands in public?

Exactly! I got it in my e-mail as well but didn't figure it was worth $20,000.

mpillow · #9 07/21/06, 11:45 AM

You have a point about the dignity...but the less extreme type or people who interview as "unaffected" or w/o Big Buttons for pushing concerning their lifestyle wont be selected....the show would lack drama...

I've watched quite a few while hubby watched "24" and was astonished more often than not by the lack of family values in the city folks.

Personally I enjoyed the one season of "Brat Camp".....a truly helpful and inspirational show but I'm sure the city folks found it cruel and unusual treatment for the brats

AnEarthMonkey · #10 07/21/06, 11:58 AM

forgive me if im wrong, I havnt watched TV in over a month...isnt this the same show that gives the moms 50 grand each to give away to the other family as they see fit?

Jan Doling · #11 07/21/06, 12:02 PM

Chuck:

The few times I've watched, it was the city lady that seemed lacking in the dignity dept. One was wearing heels to meet the llamas. Another tried to turn a family into vegetarians....they depended on hunting for food.

The city folks always make comments about the farm animals being dirty...then you see the city mother taking her 16 year old, half-dressed daughter to night clubs or another city mother spending no quality time with her kids. Give me a little animal dirt any day....at least animals are decent mothers.

Lizza · #12 07/21/06, 12:19 PM

No one has bedrooms here or a locking door. Guess we are out

Tabitha · #13 07/21/06, 01:06 PM

well, our homestead is not quite finished yet. She would have to know how to use a screwshooter, a circular saw, I would love to be selected, while I was gone she could paint the two downstairs rooms that we are drywalling right now. that should be easy to do. And if she does not know how to cook out of the garden husband will appreciate me more when I come back. But the goats would be a problem, I do the milking and husband has a semi crippled hand, doubt he could do it.

Tabitha · #14 07/21/06, 01:11 PM

PS
and she better not be afraid of Mr. Slim, the black snake that lives at the corner of the house. And if she does not make it for painting, maybe she can make it for chicken butchering. 60 of them.
I personally would love spending some time with kids again. I am such a prevented grandmother.

chamoisee · #15 07/21/06, 01:31 PM

I'd be happy to do this, but I moved into town when I left my ex (and the homestead with him, after 8 years of hard work on it!!!). He isn't interested in doing it.

Would it be allowed for me to act as a wife (nothing kinky though!) for a homesteader without a wife in this general area, if there was one, and we could split the money? Is that permissable?

Tango · #16 07/21/06, 01:37 PM

When ABC seeks a family of one woman who lives off grid in an unfinished log cabin, who returned to the very basics of milk and eggs - literally, I'd love to be considered

Could use the money to finish my home (especially winter ceiling insulation and my fireplace :baby04: ) But no way am I leaving my bit of Earth, ya'll come here and help me tote water now that my spring has dried up.

chamoisee · #17 07/21/06, 01:38 PM

Alternately, if you'd like to do one where both partners have Asperger's syndrome and there are 6 kids (plus the couple) in a one bedroom house.....

it could be arranged.

SteveD(TX) · #18 07/21/06, 01:39 PM

I would like to nominate Melissa for the position. No one here exemplifies the homesteading lifestyle more than her, IMO. Would be cool to see her amazing house that she and Cale built with their own two hands, on national TV.

cowgirlone · #19 07/21/06, 01:42 PM

Great idea Steve! Now if we could talk her into it!

**ladycat** · #20 07/21/06, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by morningstar

No one has bedrooms here or a locking door. Guess we are out

Or maybe that's exactly what they're looking for LOL