MUMBAI: Last year Discovery US entered the reality genre with American Chopper. The documentary style reality series chronicled a family-owned motorcycle building business in a small upstate New York town. Encouraged by the response the broadcaster is said to be developing 12 primetime pilots.
 

A Reuters report indicates that the broadcaster is trying to find new ways to innovate its Discovery genres. Discovery already has begun airing pilots on Friday nights and gauging their ratings performance in consideration of a full-series order. Gold Star Racing a three-episode arc about the world of go-kart competition is being tested, with Discovery expected to make a decision soon. Another potential series being prepared focuses on a family in the Alaskan crab fishing business.

Meanwhile film and video production company Hoggard Films will produce Forbidden Zone for the broadcaster. The show is expected to go on air during the last quarter of the year. This 13-part series will explore the culture of urban exploration. It will go into abandoned structures, tunnels, bridges, towers, the hidden zones in American cities where people fear to walk into or at least have no idea that they exist.

Hoggard Films is in the process of assembling a team comprising of four individuals with plenty of flair, expertise and character. They will set out on various exotic urban adventures. At each stop they will meet members of the local urban exploration community, who will help them along their way.

The company has announced a casting call. People interested have to submit tapes of themselves by 13 February. The people being sought are

- An adventurous, dynamic, structural engineer --interest in urban exploration & archeology is a plus.

- A hip, buff female rock climber/extreme athlete

- A dynamic, young caver

- A quirky cutting-edge electronics whiz.