All Over Albany

Escape from the North Country

From a casting email that floated our way this week:

Presently casting new show, "The Great Escape", by producers of "Amazing Race" and the acclaimed director, Ron Howard, that will take place in Black River, NY. This pilot is the first reality show for TNT.

Looking to cast actors to portray three "guards" on the show who must look and act the part of a prison guard. Male, female, all ethnic backgrounds, athletic types, all age ranges. Pay approximately $300-400 a day (not confirmed yet) plus meals. Union, non-union; non-speaking. Two day shoot week of September 12; nothing definite as to which two dates.

Please submit to c.cocca@coccacasting.com ASAP as submissions must be presented by Wednesday, August 17: Age, height, weight, best phone number, email to reach you, and current photo which best represents you for this role.

A reality show with people playing prisoners and guards. What could go wrong? It's not like anyone might take their role a little too seriously and someone ends up getting tortured. Of course, that would give you more of an incentive to escape. You know, beyond the $10,000 and SUV (or whatever) they're giving the winner.

A little more on the concept, from an AP story last October:

In "The Great Escape," ordinary people are put in cinema-inspired settings, challenging them to find a way out using everyday ingenuity. Each week, teams are dropped off blindfolded in a different extreme environment -- lost in the desert, trapped in the mountains, locked in a prison, marooned on an island.

By the way, Black River is a village near Watertown.

photo: Flickr user Biggunben