HIGH STREET HILLS , Cable show to begin shooting in Durham next month

Cable show to begin shooting in Durham next month

BY JIM WISE, Staff Writer 

THE DURHAM NEWS AND OBSERVER

(DURHAM NEWS LINK)

http://www.thedurhamnews.com/2011/03/23/206035/cable-show-to-begin-shooting-in.html

The Bull City may not have oil wells and wide-open spaces, but it does have the looks for an updated “Dallas.” Or so says Roman Gabriel (no, no kin to the former Los Angeles Rams and N.C. State quarterback), who plans to begin shooting a cable-TV series in town next month. “It’s an upscale, multicultural show,” Gabriel said, about characters living in the hip downtown of a reviving industrial town. “In the vein of the old ‘Dallas.’ ” The show is set for a prime-time Sunday-night slot on the Colours TV channel of the DISH Network satellite-television company, he said. “We are working with him very closely right now,” said Sandy Freeman of the Triangle Regional Film Commission, and Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Shelly Green said her staff has been working with Gabriel on locations and permits. Like the planned “High Street Hills,” “Dallas” was a prime-time soap opera, running Friday nights on CBS from 1979 until 1991. It featured the scheming oil baron J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) and his semi-functional family. Unlike “Dallas,” though, “High Street Hills” has ethnic variety in its cast, notably an American-born Japanese character who moved to Japan and comes home for a plot-twisting visit. “It’s going to have a very real feeling but with very cinematic sensibilities,” he said. “Showcasing a lot of the architecture” in downtown Durham. “High Street” characters will be jetting overseas for some episodes, too, he said – not unlike “Dallas,” in which one story line sent Ewings to South America and another had J.R. fomenting a revolution overseas. Gabriel, whose LinkedIn site describes him as “motion picture, television, and viral web producer director and cinematographer,” lives in Los Angles and said he is collaborating with a Richmond, Va., writer. He said nine of a planned 13 to 18 episodes are written. “We’re in pre-production now,” he said, and while running a few weeks behind his planned schedule he said he expects to start filming in April. “We’re looking for a large production facility or a warehouse we can turn into a production facility,” said Gabriel, adding that such a studio could serve other Durham-produced projects as well as his series.