Spencer Pratt is now a real political contender in Los Angeles, with a shot to unseat incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. But he’s also a veteran player in the reality TV space — and knows how to parlay his penchant for getting attention into an entertainment deal.
Front of mind for Team Pratt right now is the June 2 primary in the mayoral race. Yet, intriguingly, there’s also been scattered rumors about how his unconventional campaign can be turned into TV content that harkens back to his MTV days.
TMZ, which this week reported that Pratt is living at the luxurious Hotel Bel-Air instead of, as he’d claimed, a trailer on his burnt-out Pacific Palisades lot, followed up that story with an item on May 14 that he’d “inked a deal” for a reality series about his campaign run and, should he be elected, term in office.
The report noted that Pratt and wife Heidi Montag were partnering with Boardwalk Pictures, explaining that “the production team is about to begin filming with Spencer, his wife Heidi Montag, and their kids throughout his political journey.”
Pratt’s spokesperson downplayed the project in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter: “This is a non-starter as there is no signed contract. Nothing has been pitched, nothing has been filmed, there is no contact or deal of any sort in existence. Cameras have not been rolling and there are no plans at all for cameras to film.”
Yet THR has learned that Boardwalk Pictures has already approached potential directors about the planned show. It’s seasoned production firm whose credits include Hulu’s Welcome to Wrexham and Netflix’s Cheer, as well as the doc projects Val, The Black Godfather and aka Charlie Sheen.
Pratt gained fame as the villain on MTV’s reality TV hit The Hills, alongside his then-girlfriend Montag, and later appeared on other unscripted shows including I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and Celebrity Big Brother. Before The Hills, he produced the short-lived Fox reality series The Princes of Malibu, which centered on the domestic life of David Foster. (The music producer recently hosted a fundraising event for the candidate, where wife Katharine McPhee serenaded Pratt with a rendition of Katharine McPhee’s “Simply the Best.”)
Among his earliest campaign donors, according to city filings, is top unscripted producer Jeff Jenkins, known for producing The Simple Life as well as Keeping Up with the Kardashians and its offshoots.
When THR profiled Pratt last October about his public policy outspokenness in the aftermath of the wildfires (which would later morph into his mayoral run) he expressed frustration with his inability in recent years to get greenlit again. “Technically, we are still alive at Hulu,” he said of a long-brewing project, observing with hope that his avenging-hero character arc and life’s recent plot twists might get him out of development hell. “I’m told by my fearless team at WME that not being passed on is a success nowadays.”