Days after ordering scripted series Shadowhunters and Kevin From Work, ABC Family continued its push into unscripted genre. The cable net has ordered Startup U, Next Step Realty: NYC and Monica The Medium, which join recently greenlighted reality programs Becoming Us and Job Or No Job. All will premiere in the summer. ABC Family hired ex-Fox and E! executive Kary McHoul in February to run its unscripted unit.
The hourlong Startup U follows a group of entrepreneurial millennials as they embark on a semester at Draper University in Silicon Valley. Led by billionaire founder and venture capitalist Tim Draper, the 7 week program teaches the fundamentals of launching a startup company under the mentorship of America’s business leaders. In the end, students pitch their ideas to a panel of venture capitalists. The show from Ugly Brother Studios is executive produced by Mike Duffy, Tim Duffy and Tim Draper and starts production this month in San Mateo, CA.
Next Step Realty: NYC, from Lincoln Square Productions, is a business based docuseries following the passionate and ambitious employees of Next Step Realty. The Manhattan-based real estate firm specializes in helping recent college graduates find their apartments in New York City while navigating interpersonal and professional conflicts in the workplace. Danielle Rossen serves as EP for the series, which is in production in New York.
Monica the Medium follows at Monica, a junior at Penn State University navigating friends, family, relationships — and the fact that she’s a medium and can talk to dead people. Her uncommon vocation provides an endless supply of emotional and engaging stories, with a unique millennial perspective. The show is produced by Dave Caplan’s Trooper Entertainment in association with Lionsgate TV. Caplan will serve as executive producer alongside Malachi McGlone. It’s in production in State College, PA.
“ABC Family will become a brand known as much for character driven docu-dramas as we are for our character driven scripted dramas and comedies,” said ABC Family President Tom Ascheim. “This summer will be chock-full of unscripted fare on the network as we build momentum with these three new series.”
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