OMG-Like Can U Believe Who Is Co-Producing Malibu High Pilot?

• Local Students Are Filmed and Film Themselves in the Throes of Teen Turmoil

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

A Malibu High School “reality TV” show that is currently in development is expected to begin attracting a lot of attention with the involvement of reality TV personality Heidi Montag, according to the show’s creator and co-executive producer, Malibuite Lexi Vonderlieth.

Montag, who starred in “The Hills,” one of MTV’s most profitable TV shows and made headlines for a recent 10-procedure plastic surgery extravaganza that has earned her the nickname “Malibu Barbie,” is helping to create the Malibu High School show and will co-executive produce.

“As you will see from the picture, Heidi Montag helped create and executively produce this project,” Vonderlieth told the Malibu Surfside News.

The new show, which Vonderlieth says will be “innocent” and not “exploitive” reportedly focuses on the lives of several Malibu High School students.

“We have worked very closely to find the real stories in these kids and create a great show,” Vonderlieth said. “I am excited for people to see the final product, so they see what our vision is, and how fun it is to be a kid in these technological times.”

According to Vonderlieth, 14 hours of footage have been shot for use in a a presentation tape.

 “We’re currently in the process of editing our 14 hours of footage,” Vonderlieth told The News. “As you know that can take some time. Our editors are hard at work. We are in discussion and in mid-meetings with two networks in which until things are final, I can’t say much. What I can say about the show is that creatively we have developed a great platform. The show will consist of footage that we shoot with ‘big cameras’ and footage from ‘flip cameras’ that the kids use to film themselves.”

Vonderlieth elaborated on the show’s concept: “The idea behind it is that we as producers will film what we perceive as the kids reality and the kids film their perception of their own reality. This is all in hopes to keep it as real as possible. It’s also an insight into the teenagers’ life that we haven’t seen before.

“The technological advances since I was in high school have changed so much and its amazing to see these kids interact through all the different mediums,” Vonderlieth said. “At night, all these kids ichat, IM, FaceBook, Twitter, and it’s amazing to see the process they go through on a day-to-day basis. Its also more interesting to see how they see it, which is why the ‘flip camera’ works so ideally. They film as they see things.

“The big cameras are necessary to help tell the stories of our cast. I will say that together they make a great show and from what everyone has seen, they are very excited.”