Cameras have already started rolling on Bethenny Frankel’s new talk show pilot, sources have confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Telepictures produced pilot tapped the former Real Housewives of New York star to host an advice-based talk show that began taping earlier this month. Sources have also confirmed that fellow Telepictures talk show host and producer Ellen DeGeneres is involved with the project.
“I want to be on TV in a format where I can have a longer conversation with my fans rather than 140 characters on Twitter,” Frankel said during an interview with THR earlier this year. “It probably will be a talk show.”
Telepictures, an extension of Warner Bros., is the brain trust behind such successful series’ as The Tyra Banks Show, Lopez Tonight and Ellen. Last fall, DeGeneres inked a new deal with the company committing the host to a multiyear production contract that would allow DeGeneres to develop original scripted, reality and cable programming for Warner Bros TV and Warner Horizon.
During a recent appearance on Ellen, Frankel (who has now been a guest on the show four times) discussed how those closest to her are familiar with her often-irrational behavior. “I’m working with you now,” DeGeneres revealed about their professional relationship while intending to set up the subsequent joke. “So now I’m questioning it.”
The show’s format calls for multiple segments to be produced, according to a source, some of which have yet to be taped. If ordered to series, the project will most likely be filmed in New York, a source says, but an official decision has not been made.
As The Hollywood Reporter first broke, Frankel sold her Skinnygirl cocktail line to Beam Global in March 2011 for $120 million. Frankel recently signed on for a third season of her hit Bravo series Bethenny Ever After.
