It’s day 84 of the actors’ strike in Hollywood.
While that means no new episodes of your favorite TV dramas, unscripted shows have been business as usual.
And Tucson has become a destination for many production companies trying to capitalize.
“We love having these kind of shows,” Peter Catalanotte, director of Film Tucson, said of unscripted programming. “It really showcases our locations and our people and the environment. We love having those shows here.”
Catalanotte helps bring in those reality shows.
Film Tucson has seen a noticeable rise in unscripted shows shot in the area with Hollywood being shutdown the last several months.
Tucson-area resident Daryl Mallett has been acting as a hoard finder, someone who scouts for the antiques, collectibles and rusty gold, for the unscripted History Channel show, “American Pickers,” which is currently filming its 25th season.
“I don’t think IMDB has ‘hoard finder’ as a job title, but it’s kind of a fun title,” Mallett said.
Mallett is helping the producers of “American Pickers” find locations in Southern Arizona for Mike, Robbie and Danielle to pick later this fall.
Some of their favorite items: old motorcycles, bicycles, cars and antique toys.
This is the second time in the last five years Mallett has helped “American Pickers” find locations to pick in Southern Arizona.
“A lot of these shows come through,” Mallett said. “There’s not a lot of advertising on them because they want to get in and get out. Non-scripted, there’s really no need for extras or an audience.”
According to Film Tucson, the popular HGTV show “House Hunters” just shot an episode on Mount Lemmon that will air later this year.
While the strikes in Hollywood are good for the reality show business in Southern Arizona, they’re bad for the moviemaking business.
Catalanotte says Film Tucson is ready for the strike to be over and for major movie studios to take advantage of Arizona’s new film tax incentives.
“That’s OK, we’re going to wait it out,” Catalanotte said. “We actually just did some unscripted shows in the meantime, and now that the strike is almost over, we’re going to pivot back to getting those incentives going for the scripted content.”
If you have a big antique collection and would like to be on television, email Cineflix, the production company behind the show, at americanpickers@cineflix.com, with your name, phone number, location and brief description of what you have with photos.