Rollergirls-hopefully better than that Austin Real World tripe

[Livia]

Reality TV lands here again:

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/st...=et51&hbx=e_du

Rock 'n' Rollergirls: A&E to air roller derby reality series in January

Some of Austin's favorite alternative ladies on skates will soon be regulars on national cable television.

Austin production company Action Figure teamed up with MTV's "Laguna Beach" producer Gary Auerbach to create 13 one-hour episodes of "Rollergirls," a reality show about the Texas Roller Derby's Lonestar Rollergirls, who compete in a knock-down, drag-out roller-skating contest in Austin.

"Rollergirls" will premiere on the A&E Television Network at 9 p.m. Central on Jan. 2.

The first episode of "Rollergirls," seen from the perspective of rookie rollergirl Venus Envy, introduces the duality between the rollergirls' superhero personas on the track and their daily lives.

"We wanted to show how powerful these women are, some of them teachers, lawyers and students by day, all of them hellions by night," says Mark Miks, director and principal at Action Figure.

"We employed techniques learned from Gary Auerbach's 'Laguna Beach' and kept the cameras farther away from the subjects, utilizing the longer end of the lens for beauty and keeping the performances natural and real."

A skater-owned and operated league, Lonestar Rollergirls had six production companies vying for broadcast rights of the project, but chose Action Figure and Auerbach's Go Go Luckey Productions.

"Action Figure delivered a pitch tape that blew our minds," says Chola, team captain for the Lonestar Rollergirls team Putas Del Fuego.

"It was raw and rough and so dead on. They delivered the real Texas Roller Derby on screen, not a glamorized version of us. They just got it."

According to an estimate from the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau, the 13 episodes on A&E will carry a media value of about $665,000 -- a monster figure for the all-volunteer league.

"With the A&E show, we're hoping to get exposure of the sport and how it empowers the girls," says Stuart Thomajan, a financial backer of the league.