DLT Entertainment's 'Bar Car'

[Pavan]

NEW YORK -- DLT Entertainment is betting that American viewers are ready to embrace "Bar Car," a hybrid latenight scripted/reality series that would follow nine people as they unwind on a commuter train at the end of their workday.
Based on the successful Australian series "Going Home," the half-hour "Bar Car" will employ actors who'll get the outlines of their scenes from the writers and then improvise the dialogue.

DLT has already taped a presentation reel put together by director Karen Arthur, producer Morgan Sachett and writers Rick Newberger and Darin Henry. Also giving guidance during the taping were "Going Home" creators Hal and Di McElroy, who produced two 130-episode seasons of the show for Australian television.

DLT is preparing its "Bar Car" sales pitch, targeting basic-cable nets as the likeliest outlet for the show.

"We plan to shoot each day's episode in the morning, edit it in the afternoon and have it ready for showing the same night," said Don Taffner Jr., veepee of New York-based DLT Entertainment.

Wants topicality

The reason for such a hectic schedule is that Taffner wants the characters to chat for at least a few minutes each half-hour about the headlines in that day's newspaper. "That's also why the show has to be taped in the U.S. and not Canada," he said.

Because New York is the granddaddy of all suburban-commuter-train cities, Taffner wants to tape the show in Gotham, in a studio where technicians would build a mock-up of a bar car. Because of time constraints, he said the editors would be cutting and splicing the tape while the show is shooting, conscious of the deadline for satellite-feeding the episode to the network.

Because the four principals who taped the presentation all want to work on the series, Taffner said he could get it up and running by January if a cable net signs up for "Bar Car" in the next month or so. He said the McElroys have also agreed to help supervise the taping of the early episodes.

Seeks diversity

Ideally, the nine characters "should cover a broad range, with different ages, ethnicities and income," Taffner said, adding that the likely gender mix would be five males and four females. DLT will hire five or six other actors to portray subsidiary characters who'll appear from time to time to supplement the core group.

But Taffner is flexible: If a cable network wanted the show to appeal, say, to young adults, DLT would be willing to hire only actors between the ages of 18 to 34.

Another DLT goal is to produce "a moderately inexpensive show," as Taffner put it. Outside sources say DLT could do a slickly produced show for about $50,000 a half-hour, which is higher than a gameshow or a court show but lower than a network-daytime soap.

DLT has also optioned the format rights to "Twenty-Four/Seven," another Australian show produced by the McElroys, which focuses on all of the people who participate in the creation of a fictional magazine that "looks something like a high-class National Enquirer," Taffner said. DLT is planning this show as a weekly hour.

DLT Entertainment is most popular for hit shows like "Three's Company," "Benny Hill" and "Too Close for Comfort."