I work for the TV production company Raw TV – we are the makers of the hit Discovery show Gold Rush Alaska (Fridays 10PM E/P) that follows a group of men from Portland as they risk it all to mine for gold.

We are currently searching for individuals to take part in our next exciting network TV series ‘Pioneers’. We are looking for American families who are considering starting new lives for themselves in the great American wilderness and are willing to be followed throughout their experiences by our cameras.

Have you always dreamed of making a new life for your family in the wilderness, away from bureaucracy and the rat race? Have you and your friends been talking about starting a new community with your own rules? Or are you already living in a community away from society?

If you answer yes to any of these, or know someone who would – we would love to hear from you.
Please email your contact details and your story to pioneers@rawtelevision.co.uk

Thanks so much for your time,

Seth

Raw TV

for real?

That's great, can't wait to see how this turns out. This reminds me of when Les Stroud was starting his show and he came to this site asking questions and opinions.

I enjoy these shows. I haven't seen all the episodes of Gold Rush but am looking forward to finishing it.

I have to point out that a PBS series called "Pioneer House" did something very similar and in that show they had to deal with the fact that they did NOT get to make their own rules because no portion of the United States is without hunting laws and therefore they could not hunt for game since game seasons were not within the window of the show's filming.

I also have to note that the "easy" land for settling has all been taken long, long ago. Any frontier land left nowadays will be extremely difficult to make a living from. A counter to that would be to rent some of the "easy" land for this endeavor. But even then, the fidelity to the original frontier will be hurt (no supply of buffalo chips for fuel, no herds of buffalo to hunt, can't hunt anytime, have to protect the Preble's Jumping Mouse habitat while plowing, etc)

(Note that the Gold Rush guys ran afoul of Alaska Fish & Game for digging in the creekbed......)

I'm looking forward to watching it :-)

Good practice for TEOTWAWKI. Will look forward to checking out the show.

I'd need Wi-Fi. And my family consists of Gidget, a Samoyed who would be prone to lick the camera lens. She would enjoy a snowier clime.

Where is this "great American wilderness?"

Why yes, I want to be on TV so I can show all my warts, pimples, foibles and be second guessed by anyone and everyone. I do have some questions however:

Just exactly what would I be paid and in what currency? Hope it's not in pounds, I can't understand farthings, quid, and stuff. I'd prefer some of that gold the Gold Rush guys can't find.

What would I be required to provide? Can I bring my own weapons and what are the restrictions? How about tools and other stuff? Can I bring my generator? Is wi-fi provided?

Where will I be going and for how long? Alaska isn't a frontier, it's been settled for quite some time, so can we go to a South Pacific island? I don't like being cold, but can hang with being warmish.

Do I get to keep the land I homestead on? Who provides it anyhow? There's not a lot of free land in Alaska.

Do I have any say in what is and isn't shown on TV. I'd prefer not to be shown running around in my undies or less. My potty breaks are private too. As is my nap time. Eating too, I've been known to spill stuff and that would be embarrassing. So if you want to show pics of me strutting around looking all manly and macho and stuff, good luck with that, lol.

How far from the local Holiday Inn will we be, and most important, what are the rules on the mini-bar?

Hi Seth. Thanks for posting, this looks like an interesting show. I'll admit I dreamed of doing such a thing, however my wife dreams about having a place even CLOSER to Walmart than the 8 minutes away we are currently.

Like many on this board, I am curious about some of the details of this project. I'm reading it as you want to follow a family that has already taken the first steps in homesteading including already having a peice of land picked out or purchased and you just want to follow them along with a camera. Is that correct or do you have a peice of land for the family already in mind? If Raw TV will be supplying the land what happens after the show? Is it given to the family, sold to them, or are they expected to leave when it's done?

Of course the big question is what sort of financial incentive will be given to the family? I realize that will be somewhat open to negotiation but a ballpark figure would help people out. For instance, I was offered $8k-$10k for a ten week stint as a colonist on the second season of "The Colony". That wasn't enough to make up for being fired if I took the role. I had to pass but obviously it was enough for the other cast members.

I look forward to seeing how this pans out and offer my assistance/connections in any way you might find useful.

-Blast

Can I be the token Brit?

Could probably come up to our house and film us as-is for this show My wife may not be on board for that, although we are needing a new chicken coop, I wonder if they pay in supplies :-D

Having done a tiny bit of "reality" tv, I may point out that is much less being a pioneer and more of Producers making up the rules as they go along to get interesting tv, i.e. Adding conflicts.

BTW, living in a community doesn't necessarily mean that you are living away from society. The opposite is most likely true.

The synopsis of the new show will most likely also be searching around for a political theme for maximum TV controversy effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYd-o0Shmn4

Will it be the aim to show called 'Pioneers' to show so called 'survivalists' as Louis Theroux's Survivalists episode did over 10 years ago.




This line reminds me of a small village called Meigle in Perth and Kinross, Scotland who declared that they had declared independance from the UK Government state on their community website about 10+ years ago as a joke. I watched as 2 Chinooks full of troops landed there the next day from the Sidlaw Hills

It is the influx of reality TV shows that cause me to spend more time on the internet and less with the boob tube...

Meh...

Sounds like fun. If you look at my signature you'll see I am very interested in starting a new community. This could very well be just the jump I need to get experience living with others in a start-up capacity and ultimately to bring attention to my nonprofit endeavors. Let's do it! Where do I sign up?

The only problem is that you said you were looking for families, and I am single! Does this mean I'm disqualified? Damn!

Not supposed to be using that acronym, Dangy

Funny how 2 of you mention wi-fi. What, no corn-cob dolls to occupy your time?

I'd be real curious how you'd get away from the beaurocracy...

I'd keep busy studying all the How To Survive In the Sticks Post-EMP books I've been collecting.

And making voodoo dolls.

Thank you all for your interest.

We are still very much in the early stages of pre-production on this project. At the moment we want to make contact with people from a whole range of different backgrounds to find out a little about their story, their goals and their outlook on life.

As of yet many of the details are still flexible and will depend on who we speak to and how the project progresses.

Many thanks,

Paul (Seth recently brought me into team here at Raw and I will be helping on this project)
pioneers@rawtelevision.co.uk