Production of The Bachelor starring former professional football player Matt James will begin at the end of the month.
According to a report on Tuesday from Delivery timeThe show is likely to start in January.
He added that there will be strict restrictions during filming to ensure that no one is infected with the Corona virus. And so did The Bachelor, starring Claire Crowley, which had just been filmed.
Cameras will be rolling soon! Production of The Bachelor starring former professional football player Matt James will begin at the end of the month
Deadline has been recognized with a filming date from Rob Mills, SVP, Alternative Series, Specials & Late-Night Programming, ABC Entertainment.
The series will be filmed in one location.
“Nothing makes us happier than to be able to come back and start traveling on location with these shows,” said Mills.
In June, ABC announced that James would be the show’s first black romantic lead in the show’s 18-year history.
His casting comes on the heels of global protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and amid intense public outcry over the lack of diversity and inclusivity in the Bachelor franchise – led by some of its former stars.
Ready to Go: Deadline has been recognized with a shooting date from Rob Mills, SVP, Alternative Series, Specials & Late-Night Programming, ABC Entertainment. The series will be filmed in one location
Matt, who is from North Carolina but now lives in New York City, was originally chosen by ABC to star in the upcoming season of The Bachelorette, in which he appears alongside several men vying to win the heart of former Bachelorette star Crowley.
Although the new star of The Bachelor isn’t usually chosen until after The Bachelorette airs — with producers often picking one of the most popular contestants — Matt’s casting seems to be fast-tracked.
“When filming[on Claire’s season of The Bachelorette]couldn’t go forward as planned, we were given the advantage of time to get to know Matt and everyone agreed he would make the perfect Bachelorette,” said ABC Entertainment president Cary Burke. GMA.
Still, producers insist Matt was being seen as a potential Bachelorette star long before audiences protested the lack of black franchise leads in the past — which saw Rachel Lindsay, the first-ever black Bachelorette, threaten to end her association with the show if things didn’t change. .
From Auxiliary Player to Star: Matt, who’s from North Carolina but now lives in New York City, was originally picked by ABC to star in the upcoming season of The Bachelorette
“Matt was someone who was on our radar and we were considering him,” said Rob Mills, who oversees the Bachelor franchise on ABC. diverse.
“We were thinking do we announce it early, or put it into Claire’s season and announce it later, if it doesn’t work out for Claire? We didn’t make a final decision until recently, but this has been talked about for some time.
Matt said his casting is “a step in the right direction” while praising Rachel for speaking out and advocating for change, noting: “When Rachel speaks we listen”.
It’s ready to go: The Bachelorette Show with Claire Crowley premieres on October 13
He added, “She has a very important voice in all of this being the first black woman, person of color to have a leadership role.” So I think we’re all taking the same approach in that conversation, and I hope this is the first of many black men in the position I’m in right now.
Pro: The Wake Forest graduate played soccer professionally for a few months, for both the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints (pictured)
When asked if his selection as the first black Bachelorette came a little late, Matt insisted, “This isn’t the wrong time to do the right thing.”
We can’t change until you put your first foot forward and the first step forward in the Bachelor franchise is to have a black lead, so I’m excited to take on this role.
Matt also admitted that he kept his exciting news under wraps from almost everyone in his life – including his mom, who only found out her son had been chosen as the next bachelor when it was announced to the world.
‘She’d be excited,’ he said, before adding, ‘but it’s hard for her to keep a secret, so I had to keep it super tight. So she is only now finding out.
In addition to appearing on The Bachelorette, realtor Matt — who attended Wake Forest University, where he played wide receiver for the school’s football team — has another close connection to the ABC franchise.
Friend: The former soccer player is a close friend of former co-stars, fellow Wake Forest alum Tyler Cameron. Seen in October 2019
The ex-football player is close friends with former stars, fellow Wake Forest alum Tyler Cameron, and Hannah Brown, who recently came under fire for saying the N-word in a social media video while singing the song DaBaby Rockstar.
Matt was even quarantined with Tyler and Hannah for several weeks in March, when the trio formed a “quarantine crew” with a few other friends who holed up together at Tyler’s house in Jupiter, Florida.
Tyler and Matt first formed a close friendship at their college in Winston-Salem, and they currently share an apartment in New York City. In fact, Tyler has been credited with helping to get Matt into the Bachelor franchise in the first place.