In the hopes of creating a hit television series, producer Kevin Deane and co-producer Brett Wagner will be attending Red Deer’s Electric Garage.
Wagner said he is excited because the Electric Garage happens to have the world’s best auctioneer, Rod Burnett.
“I have worked four auctions with the legendary Burnett and he’s the fastest talker I know and has inspired this new reality TV concept,” said Wagner.
The idea behind the show would be the life of an auctioneer that Wagner said is not always glamorous or fun.
“Auctioneers don’t just sell cars. One day it could be heavy equipment or cattle or real estate and chickens and the next cars, it’s pretty amazing.”
Burnett is away from his family a lot driving up and down the coast 10 hours at a time, said Wagner.
He got involved with the Electric Garage when he was asked to participate as a speaker. This was when he found that he was fascinated not only by the fast pace of the auctions, but the lifestyles the auctioneers live.
“The Electric Garage with Burnett is more like a show. It’s not just a car show. It’s fun and exciting and the world needs to see this, so I figured it might make a good half hour show.”
The idea behind the show is to delve into the lives of what the auctioneers and their ring men have to do.
“Some peoples’ livelihoods depend on this. If the auctioneer isn’t on the ball somebody could be in deep trouble.”
Wagner added he has seen how much pressure is on an auctioneer as well as the companies that put on the auctions in general.
The filming done at the Electric Garage will be for a pilot show and Wagner said they hope to sell it from there.
“There is already interest from some networks and a lot of shows already have a piece of an auctioneer in them, but nobody focuses on the guy that’s putting it out there. It’s a no-brainer.”
If you’ve never seen something so fast paced and exciting people are going to freak out when they see this. It’s mesmerizing.”
Todd Schwindt, owner of the Electric Garage, said they are looking forward to the event during which they plan to auction off 130 cars.
“We have a whole bunch of things happening including the Fast Talkers film crew and selling signed electric guitars and merchandise. There is something for everybody.”
Schwindt said Wagner started throwing around this concept based on the auctions and the ins and outs and the relationships between auctioneer and ring men and garnered some interest.
“We said yeah sure sounds good let’s see what we can put together. Then we managed to get it to come together for this event for the first short spot they would film,” said Schwindt.
The Electric Garage runs at the Westerner on Sept. 23 and 24.
kpalardy@reddeerexpress.com
