Production starts for Living In Your Car

From a media release:

Bernie Madoff got 150 years.
Garth Drabinsky got 7 years.
Conrad Black got 6.5 years.
Steve Unger was lucky – he got his car.

Principal photography has started on the new 13-part half hour television comedy series from The Nightingale Company created by acclaimed writers George F. Walker, Dani Romain and Joseph Kay. Developed and licensed for Astral Media’s The Movie Network and Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central, the series is directed and executive produced by David Steinberg (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Weeds, Mad About You), and stars John Ralston (Life With Derek, This is Wonderland), Ingrid Kavelaars (Whistler, ReGenesis) and Colin Cunningham (jPod The Collector, Da Vinci’s Inquest). Filming will take place in Toronto and Hamilton from September 16 to November 24, 2009. The series is being produced by The Nightingale Company in association with BeActive.

This timely series set in a slumping economy follows the winding karmic adventures of fallen corporate exec, Steve Unger, who was caught cooking the books and now finds himself legally forbidden from working in any position that involves “other people’s money”. Clinging desperately to the last vestige of his former self – his luxury sedan – Steve hopes to begin anew. Shunned by family and friends, under court order to teach an ethics class to other “fallen angels”, Steve now makes his home inside his luxury car. Propelled ahead by his needs and whims, trying to simultaneously help and exploit everyone he meets, Steve attempts to survive in the land of the have-nots and at the same time somehow resurrect the charmed life he once had.

“When we first took LIVING IN YOUR CAR to the networks several years ago, it was in response to the Enron debacle. Fortunately for us, there has been no end to financial misconduct,” notes George Walker.

“When I was given these scripts to read, I was excited by how topical the subject was, how wonderfully written the scripts were and how funny. Who wouldn’t want to direct this?” says David Steinberg.

“This is a terrific fusion of talent with David directing the fresh, smart series created by George, Dani and Joseph. The essence of this story captures the zeitgeist of what’s going on in the financial world, at the same time as offering up a satisfying sense of ‘revenge’ catharsis, ” said Debbie Nightingale, President of The Nightingale Company.

LIVING IN YOUR CAR is created and written by George F. Walker, Dani Romain, the duo behind the critically acclaimed series This is Wonderland, and the recent, thrilling cop drama The Line (The Movie Network/Movie Central) and Joseph Kay. Walker and Romain are also Executive Producers on this series along with David Steinberg and Debbie Nightingale. Joseph Kay and Alyson Richards will serves as Co-Producers. Additional directors for the series are Bruce McDonald (Pontypool, Less Than Kind), Shawn Alex Thompson (Less Than Kind, Puppets Who Kill), Paul Fox (The Dark Hours, Life With Derek). Cinematography by Stephen Reizes (Flashpoint, Intelligence, Little Criminals), production design by Peter Emmink (The Line, This Is Wonderland), costume design by Michael Harris (The Line, H2O, Trojan Horse, The State Within), and editing by Dave Thompson (Wild Roses, Flashpoint, 24).

LIVING IN YOUR CAR is scheduled to debut in 2010 on The Movie Network (Eastern Canada) and Movie Central (Western Canada).