Hollywood East premieres in Wilmington, NC

"Hollywood East," a new TV series, premiered last Friday at Thalian Hall in downtown Wilmington. "Hollywood East" is a Wilmington-based TV show that chronicles the ups and downs of several models and musicians as they break into show business.

The show follows the lives of a group of female models, an all-male music group called Falling Fast, and their respective managers. The band includes the frequently shirtless drummer named Lee, Lee's partner in crime and bassist Ashton, Bobby the lead guitarist, and Scott the front man. The models include brutally honest and manipulative Chloë, the more scrupulous and conservative Arial, and fading star Eve, who is struggling with her waning popularity in the business.

Like any addictive show featuring attractive young actors, relationships between the characters blossom and falter as their media exposure escalates and their lives become more complicated and demanding.

The creative force behind the show is Timothy Woodward, Jr. who has creative control over the direction of the show's plot, produces the show, and stars as Falling Fast front man, Scott. Woodward also writes and records all of the band's music in a hidden recording studio in Wilmington, where artists like André 3000, Mary J. Blige and One Tree Hill's Bethany Galeotti have recorded songs.

The show also has several ties to UNCW. One of the show's main characters, Chloë, is played by UNCW graduate Summer Rahn. The first draft of the script for the pilot episode was written by former UNCW film major, Stephen Ruiz. Also, Barrett DeLong, a current UNCW film student, is the art director for the show.

Not only does "Hollywood East" film in Wilmington, the series is also set in Wilmington as opposed to a fictional location (i.e. "Tree Hill, NC"). In the first few episodes viewers can catch glimpses of Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach hot spots frequented by UNCW students and other Wilmington residents. These places include Diesel, the Liquid Room, Café del Mar, Tower 7, Fat Boy's and the Riverwalk.

In the first episode of the series Falling Fast opens for special guest star Ryan Cabrera at Diesel. Future guest star Jodie Sweetin, who played Stephanie Tanner in "Full House," appears as herself for two episodes. Sweetin plays the love interest of Lee on the show.

"I never thought I'd be pretending to date Stephanie Tanner," said Brandon Luck, who plays Falling Fast drummer Lee. "She's definitely a cool chick, and I had a lot of fun working with her."

The cast and crew of "Hollywood East" form a tight-knit group, passing the time between takes laughing, joking and making fun of each other. A few cast members even live together. The group is made up of a network of friends and former colleagues that enjoyed working with each other in the past and came together to make the show.

"There's a lot of cool people in Wilmington, and once you find awesome people that you love to work with, you collaborate on future projects," said Director Charles Stewart, Jr.

"Hollywood East" began filming in July 2009. So far they've completed six episodes and are currently filming the seventh and eighth. The show is airing in 220 countries and has been picked up by local Wilmington station WWAY (ABC) and WWAY's digital station (channel 903).

"The show airs late-night on the local WWAY channel and at 9 p.m. on the digital channel," said Woodward. "We're looking at better times."

"Hollywood East" is presented as a multimedia project and is accessible via TV, iTunes, Facebook and MySpace. The first episode, as well as a few promos, is available for free download on iTunes. Fans can also join the show's Facebook group for updates, stills and behind-the-scenes photos.

"We're all having a lot of fun on the set and hope everyone enjoys it," Luck said.