Scott Dunlop was mingling with friends at a swanky dinner party in Coto de Caza when it hit him.
The scene, he thought, would make a great reality show. The well-coifed ladies, the chatter about nothing, the extravagant houses.
“I felt as though the sense of humor had been vacuumed out of the community,” Dunlop said. “I wanted to have some fun.”
Dunlop, who has lived in Coto de Caza for 20 years, pitched his friends on the idea of casting five couples in a reality show that captured their daily lives.
It was to be a “satirical send up on life in an affluent suburban community,” Dunlop said.
The idea eventually was picked up by NBC Universal Inc.’s Bravo and debuted on cable last winter as “Real Housewives of Orange County.”
The show is one of several reality programs that have chosen OC as a backdrop.
The area has its own pop culture that fascinates people worldwide: scenic beaches, lavish homes, surfer dudes, hot rodders, primped ladies driving Hummers, and artsy, music types making beach garb.
“Almost daily and almost in every city we’ve got a reality show that’s shooting,” said Janice Arrington, Orange County’s film commissioner.
Reality shows shot in OC include “Real Housewives of Orange County,” MTV’s “Laguna Beach: The Real OC,” Discovery Channel’s “American Hot Rod” featuring Boyd Coddington of La Habra and Discovery Channel’s “Overhaulin” with Huntington Beach’s Chip Foose.
A slew of other reality shows also have shot episodes here, including, “Nanny 911,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” “Date My Mom” and “Wife Swap.”
“Those shows, which need to focus on a particular family or particular volunteer, are finding people in Orange County,” Arrington said. “Or, the people they’re profiling are coming to visit OC.”
Reality shows also are landing in OC because producers don’t have to worry about the “Hollywood zone,” the 30-mile radius around Holly-wood, Arrington said.
If union movies or TV shows go outside the zone, producers have to pay extra transportation and lodging expenses to their crew.
Only seven OC cities are within the Hollywood zone, including Seal Beach, Stanton, Cypress, Buena Park, Brea and La Habra.
Many reality shows, including “Real Housewives of Orange County,” are non-union shows and don’t have to adhere to zone rules. Or they’re casting people who live in the area and use small crews, Arrington said.
Dunlop, who produces “Real Housewives,” said the show mainly uses digital cameras with sometimes just four cameramen. Scenes are shot in homes.
“It’s a very svelte process and you’re able to shoot judiciously,” he said. “We’re not running about. It doesn’t interfere with the community.”
That’s been a relief to Coto residents, some of whom weren’t too hot on a TV series being shot in their neighborhood, Dunlop said.
There were fears of “helicopters and huge crews running around,” he said.
Plus, some residents thought the show fed into stereotypes of OC,tan, high-glam, shallow people gossiping in ritzy houses,and would give them a bad wrap.
Dunlop said his new neighbor almost broke escrow on his house when he saw the show because he wasn’t “like those people.”
“People love it or hate it,” Dunlop said.
The chatter has helped put OC in the national mindset. So have other reality shows, such as “Laguna Beach,” and the fictional “The O.C.,” even though it’s not shot here.
Dunlop said he uses a local crew to handle “Real Housewives” and plans to keep it here “behind the curtain.”
Post-production editing is done in Los Angeles since that’s Bravo’s home and is where the network “demands” it be done, Dunlop said.
“I hope to shift and change that as well,” he said.
Having TV shows focused here is a “marketing dream,” said Liz Rooney, executive producer at Rodney Rooney Productions Inc.’s Orange County Television in Newport Beach, which does TV shows “OCTV” and “Out & About; OC.”
“‘The O.C.’ started the trend and it helps that Orange County is clean and has that air of eliteness,” Rooney said. “It is ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ in one county.”
Irvine-based ChopShop, which does post-production work, has seen business from more shows being shot here, particularly action sports shows, principal Ken Anderson said.
“Orange County, with its concentration of action sports apparel companies, has become the home of extreme sports,” he said.
In the past three years, ChopShop has worked on more than 300 action sports shows shot partially or entirely in OC, such as “10 Count,” “Project: Detention,” “GKA” and “Cut Masters.”
TV production here is growing because there’s demand for the content, Anderson said. And it’s easy to shoot here.
Plus, the county offers a “fresh look of OC locations as opposed to L.A.,” he said.
Reality shows don’t have the big budgets of movies, commercials or other TV shows. But they do have an impact.
Take “Real Housewives.” Last season there was a “solid seven figures” infused into the community from bringing in about 25 people to stay in apartments or hotels in OC, Dunlop said.
“They eat every night, rent vehicles and equipment,” he said.
Bigger TV shows, with crews of up to 100 people, can spend about $85,000 per day, the film commission’s Arrington said.
OC has hosted a few of those through the years.
They include “CSI: Miami,” “NCIS Navy,” “Numb3rs” and even Fox’s “The O.C.,” which is mainly shot in Los Angeles. The TV series “Invasion” is set to be shot in OC.
