Reality TV: We’re ALL (Mini) Maniacs

As we push forward with our new pilot project, Auto Obsession, one of the elements is the gathering of a group of like-minded people. People who love their cars. People who have an obsession.

So, we filled a MiniCooper Countryman S up with our gear and headed up to Malibu, California for a Saturday morning shoot with the Southern California Mini Maniacs. Apparently, they follow a very specific schedule for creating activities around food, driving, socializing, and sharing stories about their cars.

One of the challenges for any production crew is organizing a group of people who are not professionals (film) to position themselves, do things for the camera, and otherwise behave relative to the production. Based on our experience with the SCMM organization, these guys were made for TV. Our contact, George Marsh was the best host you could imagine. And his maniacs were really terrific as well.

After some interaction with local law enforcement in the parking lot (all in good fun), the 40+ Mini owners who showed up sat down for some food and tall tales at Coogies, one of Malibu’s better known eating houses. Don’t listen to the reviews on Yelp, the food at Coogies is excellent and it was a terrific start to the day.

For our production, not only do we need the stories of why people dress up like their car, but we need the cars on the road. The maniacs were more than happy to help. We drove into the hills separating Malibu from Calabasas, and the maniacs parked, waited for camera cars, drove by, parked, took instruction, and hit the road for the cameras – over and over again. It’s not everyday that you run into such a supportive group of people. As I keep telling people, I’ve never met a Mini owner who didn’t smile.