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Monster Garage returns to the Discovery Channel and it looks to be produced and shot here in MoTown 
Free Press article....
Free Press article....
'Monster Garage' eyes Motown for new episodes
Gearhead alert: "Monster Garage" has plans for the Motor City.
The popular TV show, which ran for five seasons through 2006, wants to set up shop in metro Detroit and begin filming for 13 new episodes in late May, according to Tom McMahon, a producer for the original series.
Filming could take about six months, said McMahon, who's with Burbank, Calif.-based Original Productions, the maker of other testosterone-fueled cable hits like the Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch."
He said he expects the new "Monster Garage" to air in the fall on the Discovery Channel, the show's previous home. A spokesperson for the cable network had no comment.
The series won't be helmed by former host Jesse James, who's scheduled to launch a new series on Spike TV next month. But McMahon said the premise still is transforming cars in strange and unusual ways. In the past, a Chevy Suburban was turned into a portable wedding chapel and a Mustang into a lawn mower.
"The basic concept is going to be pretty much the same. We take some poor, unsuspecting innocent car and we turn it into some kind of crazy monster at the end," he said.
McMahon and some of his colleagues were in metro Detroit last week to look at potential sites for the show.
The project hasn't yet applied for the state's tax incentives for filmmaking, according to Janet Lockwood, director of the Michigan Film Office. McMahon said the paperwork would be submitted soon.
"The initial idea was really just it would be really cool to go to Detroit and do the show. Once we heard about the tax incentives, it was another incentive," he said.
Original Productions plans to post an online application on its Web site, OrigProd.com, for men and women who want to be part of future "Monster Garage" build teams.
The "Monster Garage" plan is "a real feather in Detroit's cap," said Christopher Baum of FilmDetroit, a division of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. He's been helping Original Productions search for possible locations.
Baum said FilmDetroit has made arrangements for some of the cars from the new episodes to appear at local events.
Gearhead alert: "Monster Garage" has plans for the Motor City.
The popular TV show, which ran for five seasons through 2006, wants to set up shop in metro Detroit and begin filming for 13 new episodes in late May, according to Tom McMahon, a producer for the original series.
Filming could take about six months, said McMahon, who's with Burbank, Calif.-based Original Productions, the maker of other testosterone-fueled cable hits like the Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch."
He said he expects the new "Monster Garage" to air in the fall on the Discovery Channel, the show's previous home. A spokesperson for the cable network had no comment.
The series won't be helmed by former host Jesse James, who's scheduled to launch a new series on Spike TV next month. But McMahon said the premise still is transforming cars in strange and unusual ways. In the past, a Chevy Suburban was turned into a portable wedding chapel and a Mustang into a lawn mower.
"The basic concept is going to be pretty much the same. We take some poor, unsuspecting innocent car and we turn it into some kind of crazy monster at the end," he said.
McMahon and some of his colleagues were in metro Detroit last week to look at potential sites for the show.
The project hasn't yet applied for the state's tax incentives for filmmaking, according to Janet Lockwood, director of the Michigan Film Office. McMahon said the paperwork would be submitted soon.
"The initial idea was really just it would be really cool to go to Detroit and do the show. Once we heard about the tax incentives, it was another incentive," he said.
Original Productions plans to post an online application on its Web site, OrigProd.com, for men and women who want to be part of future "Monster Garage" build teams.
The "Monster Garage" plan is "a real feather in Detroit's cap," said Christopher Baum of FilmDetroit, a division of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. He's been helping Original Productions search for possible locations.
Baum said FilmDetroit has made arrangements for some of the cars from the new episodes to appear at local events.