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Tampa Shops For Supporting Role In Film

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By RICHARD MULLINS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 22, 2008

Goofy home shopping hosts, fabulous products and a professional implosion. It's perfect fodder for a movie, and Tampa Bay could be the stage for it.

A former HSN executive has received financial commitments from Hillsborough County to help produce "Sellevision," a movie version of the same-titled book about the foibles and bizarre personalities in the home shopping world.

If all goes according to plan, Tampa Bay locations could be scenes this summer for production of the film, backed in part by producers who helped created such films as "Air Force One," "The Mothman Prophecies" and "The Matrix."

Hillsborough County commissioners voted this week to commit $50,000 toward the cost of the movie, and the State of Florida could contribute more if the "vast majority" of production takes place in the Tampa area, said Lindsey Norris of the Tampa Bay Film Commission.

"It's actually a really funny story," she said, based on the book by Augusten Burroughs, who also wrote the novels "Running With Scissors" and "Possible Side Effects."

Loosely put, the book's plot centers on fictional home shopping host Peggy Jean Smythe, who works at a successful home shopping channel and starts getting suspicious e-mail messages from a viewer, telling her that her earlobe has sprouted hair.

The drama unfolds when Smythe secretly waxes the offending lobe, but undergoes a hormonal crisis. Valium addiction, rehab and family issues send her over the edge.

In the meantime, co-host and friend Bradley Andrews is fired for accidentally exposing himself during a children's special, leaving him in little demand for traditional television work.

The real-life, St. Petersburg-based HSN home shopping channel had no official role in the production. Still, the screenplay writer and director is Mark Bozek, former president and CEO of HSN from 1999 to 2003 until he left to pursue filmmaking.

This production is something of a second attempt.

Several years ago, filmmakers toured the area in search of filming sites for the story, but the project did not materialize, Norris said. Now backed by new financing, Bozek and others are more actively moving forward with production and hope to use several Tampa Bay locations for filming.

"There was a whole fountain of stuff I saw while at HSN that I always wanted to put to use," said Bozek, the film's writer and director. He's especially interested in shooting scenes on Bayshore Boulevard, in downtown Tampa and Pass-a-Grille. In a few days, he hopes to announce stars to play the major roles.

"Tampa just hasn't been in the movies as much as Miami or Orlando, so it's an undiscovered place," Bozek said. "And everyone has been really encouraging." The county commission uses a complex formula to support film production in the area.

The $50,000 incentive may be a relatively small amount of money, but it was taken to help "close the deal," Norris said. Once film production progresses, the producers can apply for those funds to help offset costs for local film crews, hotels, restaurants, etc.

The film's release date or planned overall budget was not disclosed.

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at rmullins@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7919.

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