A potential upcoming reality TV show on Greenville Avenue will show footage from SMU parties.
Sabrina Rasor just wanted to relax and have a good time at M Street Bar, a popular Friday night venue for college students as well as partygoers in Dallas. But after noticing cameramen circling throughout the bar and release notices from Thunderbird Productions posted in bathrooms, she began to get curious.
“My boyfriend and I were filmed on top of the roof and we saw [the film crew] getting a really great shot,” she said.
Rasor, an SMU sophomore from the Metroplex, is just one of many students who have frequented bars on Greenville Avenue, M Street Bar in particular. Since the school year began, several people have seen the signs about a Greenville reality TV pilot. The signs gave no clues about what the show might be about or any other information.
This year, Thunderbird Productions chose M Street Bar, located roughly two miles from campus, to be the setting for a new reality TV show pilot about Dallas’ nightlife on Greenville Avenue. The idea is being pitched to MTV and FOX in 2008. The company shot 100 hours worth of footage at the bar and the pilot is now in post-production.
“The production team wanted to film the other side of the bar,” M Street Bar general manager Justin Handler said. “Not a lot of people know what goes on unless they’ve worked in this industry.”
The show would focus on a behind-the-scenes look at what happens at a bar throughout the night. The film crew followed Handler, the bar’s staff, and their friends closely for about five weeks during the bar’s busiest hours, from 9 p.m. until about 3 a.m. The crew tried to get a diverse amount of people as well, which is why Handler says M Street Bar was the ideal place to film a television show.
“There’s a good mix of our clientele base,” Handler said. “You’ve got a little bit of everything here.”
Though SMU students may dominate M Street Bar on Thursdays and Fridays, one can still find people meeting for a drink after work, young professionals and regulars all on the same night.
If the show gets picked up next year, it would undoubtedly increase business on Greenville Avenue. But showing several SMU students at the bar might add to the school’s popularity as well.
“I like to see our school represented,” Rasor said.
According to Handler, the production company agrees with Rasor too.
“I think they were pretty happy with it,” he says of the footage they got of SMU students. “There were just a lot of pretty, good looking people out partying.”
Jamie Cohen, a sophomore from Dallas, has a different perspective about SMU plastered all over MTV or FOX.
“I hope it doesn’t portray SMU in a negative light,” Cohen said.
But Handler thinks the show won’t be negative at all. He says there is never “drama” among the M Street employees and the atmosphere at the bar is always laid back. He wants that atmosphere to transfer onto the film.
“It’s just a friendly environment where you can relax and hang out,” Handler said.
The Greenville Avenue reality TV pilot may air sometime next year. The half-hour episodes will most likely use footage from SMU parties, and all students like Rasor and Cohen can do is hope that the show will make their school look good.
“I can’t wait to watch it,” Rasor said. “It’ll be fun to see us and our friends and everyone we know.”
As for Handler, he simply feels lucky to have had the opportunity to be filmed for a TV show.
“It was good experience,” he said. “It was fun.”
