Monday, June 4, 2012

CouchSurfing Show Coming to TV?

I need to check my couchsurfing messages more often. This was sent to me about a week ago and I only just saw it now:

Hey Joel-
How's it going? My name is ------- and I came across your profile as an experienced New York host while searching around for something specific (which I'll get to in a minute). I'm a New Yorker, born and raised, and have lived in New York (state and/or city) for most of my life. About a year and a half ago I was living in Barcelona for 6 months and came across this phenomenon called 'CouchSurfing'. I signed up, and hosted a couple different people in my time there, as well as met a handful of others.
Anyhow, why am I reaching out to you? I pitched the idea of CouchSurfing as a TV show to a production company in LA, and they love the concept. We signed a contract and are now moving forward with the project. So, our first order of business is casting. We need to find a few hosts that will be the 'stars' of our show. The vision is to have a few different people (or groups of people) welcome strangers from around the world into their homes. New week, new episode, new surfers. The hosts, and their homes, remain the constant for the audience to develop a relationship with. You get the point, I'm sure.
As you're a frequent participant in the CouchSurfing community, I thought that maybe you would be interested in applying, or maybe you know someone you think would be an ideal candidate (ie. 'character'). In any event, if there is any way you can help, I'd greatly appreciate it. You can email me at ----------- if you are interested or would like to discuss further.

Needless to say, I shot off a quick "yes, please!" But even if I don't get to be part of this project, I will certainly be keeping track of it.

EDIT (6/5/12): Just got word back, he wants me to send in a 3 minute video audition. He says "DO NOT be shy.  Show your personality.  We want to get to know you." Time to start planning some shots!

3 comments:

  1. One of the characteristical feautures of young and not so young people are their willingness to travel and couch surfing is conitnuously advancing to win more and more followers- being unpretentions, natural and last but not least cheap way to encounter the beauty of a given country. I would love to watch the show!

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  2. If you want to see my audition, you can. Here:
    http://youtu.be/V-t5Qep7Shs

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  3. Couchsurfing is a way to experience a local community while traveling. Staying in someone else's home is an ideal way to get to know a local and have an enjoyable, inexpensive lodging experience.

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