The folks behind the reality shows Survivor and Ice Road Truckers are giving SF Animal Care & Control their own “documentary television project” about the agency’s wild and wooly animal rescue calls.
If you thought the departure of Officer Edith was going to limit your media consumption habits of SF Animal Care & Control (SFACC) related content, brood no more. City Hall has greenlighted what appears to be a reality TV show about the local animal rescue agency, described as “a documentary television project about SFACC’s animal emergency rescue calls and Animal Control Officers.”
Baby 🦝 rescue on @LiveRescueAE https://t.co/EZX2pxx68s
— SF Animal Care & Control (@SFACC) October 10, 2020
The above “baby raccoon rescue” clip may provide a taste of what to expect from this “documentary television project." That clip aired in October 2020 on A&E’s show Live Rescue. This project appears to be a similar series that focuses exclusively on animal rescues, and while the project is still untitled and there is no cable or streaming network yet affiliated with the project, it is the same filming crew that produced Live Rescue.
“We are excited that the film crew that filmed our agency for A&E’s Live Rescue is returning,” SFACC spokesperson Deb Campbell tells SFist. “They’ve started their own company - ‘BHAB Productions’ - and will be here soon to film a sizzle reel about our agency and our Animal Control Officers.”
A “sizzle reel,” if you’re not familiar, is a short promo video that is often used to pitch a project to the networks.
🐱 #LiveRescue pic.twitter.com/wYrccSnaij
— Live Rescue on A&E (@LiveRescueAE) October 3, 2020
A media production agreement included in materials the Board of Supervisors approved Tuesday describes the project as “CURRENTLY UNTITLED SFACC ANIMAL RESCUE DOCUSERIES.” But SFACC seems comfortable enough working with them. Their materials they presented to the board noted that “Episodes of Live Rescue with SFACC were in the cable TV Top 30 in December of 2020, and drew up to .653 million viewers,” (which really means 653,000, but not bad for a Friday night in December),” and that “BHAB Production’s prior television experience includes Survivor, Ice Road Truckers, and Nightwatch.”
So why does the Board of Supervisors have to approve Animal Care & Control getting a reality TV show? As Kendall Jenner learned the hard way in a widely panned 2017 Pepsi ad, you need permission from the City and County of San Francisco to use a city department’s logo in a show or a commercial. The officers will be in uniform, with logos visible, and a city agency will presumably be named in marketing materials for the show.
Today’s approval granted the filmmakers “all necessary trademark license,” so everything is just ducky for the TV show about SF Animal Care & Control. We’ll watch this like a hawk for any future announcements and air dates.
Related: SF Animal Care & Control Now Featured on A&E's 'Live Rescue' Series [SFist]
Image: @LiveRescueAE via Twitter