How to Apply to Extreme Makeover – Home Edition
ABC's Popular Home Makeover Show Seeks Eligible Families
Sep 24, 2009
To be cast for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC, a family needs more than an inspirational story or an old house. The show has an extensive application process to help the producers find the perfect families for their series. The following information will help interested applicants begin that process.
Eligibility for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
All families applying to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition need to be willing and able to leave their home for seven days of vacation at a moment's notice, and must be willing to have medical tests or background checks done as part of the application process.
The primary applicant should be an adult. Friends may nominate on behalf of another family, but should be able to fill out a complete application form, and thus might need the family's help to obtain all the necessary information.
If the nominating party only knows the family from another source, such as a news story, he or she should send that story to the application mailing address. The producers will contact the family themselves if they are interested.
Application for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
After double-checking their eligibility, an interested family should download and fill out the mail-in Application Form. The application is 19 pages long and very detailed due to the nature of the show and its effect on the entire lives of its participants. Applicants must give a full description of their home, medical needs, and other debt. They must provide information about their community, family life, finances, and employment.
All applications must also include photographs of the family and their current house and an application video. The producers realize that some applicants do not have access to a video camera. If the family can not send in a video, the application includes a section in which to note why not. It is not necessarily grounds to refuse the application.
The application document also includes two separate forms: an Application Release Form that gives producers the right to use the completed application as they proceed with casting; and a Location Agreement that gives permission to the producers to film in the current home of the applicants.
The network gets a lot of applications, and thus will not respond to all of them. Because they are constantly casting, chosen applicants might not hear from the network until months after the first forms are sent. Also, any expenses incurred from the application process are the responsibility of the applicants, whether or not the family is chosen for the show.
Tips for Getting Accepted for a Home Makeover
- In order to send in the best application possible, families should make sure to read all of the paperwork included in the Application Form.
- The family photo should include every person living in the home.
- When filling out the form, applicants should be as descriptive as possible and completely honest. The producers will check all of the information before filming and untrue statements can automatically disqualify the family.
- The Application Form also comes with information and pointers about the application video, including tips on what to film, how to film it, and information to include in the video portion. Applicants should follow the advice in the form completely to be considered.
- Be freely emotional and open in both the application and video. If possible, show strength and weakness, happiness and sadness, as these qualities together make more complex and relatable characters for television.
- If the applicants do not have access to a digital camera or video camera, it would be beneficial to the application to find someone who does. Family members, friends, co-workers or even a local photographer might be willing to volunteer time or equipment.
- Because the show does not return application materials, make duplicates of everything, including the pictures and video.
- Mini-DVD entrees must be "finalized" before being mailed.
- Formats not acceptable for the video portion of the application are VHS-C and High 8. Acceptable formats are DVD, mini DV, VHS and mini DVD.
- Friends nominating on behalf of someone else should send in a completed form, no matter what. The family being nominated might need to help provide personal information on the application, and will need to fill out two included forms: the Application Release Agreement and the Location Agreement.
- Friends applying on behalf of someone else should fill out the application only with information relating to the family being nominated. The form includes a special section for the friend to provide his or her own contact information and relationship with the nominee.
- Applicants should not contact the producers or casting office to follow up. The application pool is large for this show, and thus the producers will contact parties in which they are interested in their own time.
When all of the previous steps are complete, applicants should wrap all film footage and photographs safely and mail the entire application together to:
Lock & Key Productions
C/O Family Casting
P.O.Box 38670
Los Angeles, CA 90038
A local post office or mailing office will be able to advise applicants on the best and safest way to ship the included items. The producers will not verify that they have received the application, so shipping it safely might be important for the applicant's peace of mind.
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