Shooting in and around Chester County, new Animal Planet show is looking for barn owners
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
Unionville native Taylor Hendrixson is part of the team producing Money Barn, a new series slated to be on Animal Planet.
POCOPSON — There are so many old barns dotting the Chester County landscape, it’s almost easy to forget they’re there even though many are filled with old and unique items that can help to tell the history of the area and may be of great value to collectors and antique hunters.
It’s that premise that has a local man, Taylor Hendrixson, scouting for locations for the next installment of a new TV show called “Money Barn.” Hendrixson, a 2007 Unionville High School graduate, serves as a production assistant on the show — slated to eventually air on Animal Planet, one of the Discovery Network’s stable of channels.
The show is being produced by Original Productions, the operation that produces The Deadliest Catch and Storage Wars — making it one of the top producers of reality TV content.
While filming on the first episode is complete after shooting last week at a barn in South Coventry, Hendrixson has been tasked with looking for more locations in southeastern Pennsylvania — a specific area that includes all of Chester County.
The premise is a little along the lines of Storage Wars, with auctioneers competing for the chance to sell the contents of a barn and then the auction itself. One difference: the barn owners will be part of the story, their history and why they are willing to part with the contents of their barn.
This maps shows the area the producers of the new show Money Barn are hunting for owners with stories to tell and items to sell, including all of Chester County. If you fit the description, click the link below to see if you might be a match.
During the shoot for the first episode, currently in post-production in Los Angeles, Hendrixson said he found the process of uncovering the surprisingly valuable items fascinating. One item he talked about was an oak shelving unit that appeared to have come from an old drug store — possibly more than a century old. At 10 by 20 feet, it was quite literally a big hit, he said.
“That was a really impressive piece of furniture,” he said, noting that it was appraised at $12,000 and ultimately sold for some $6,000.
While Hendrixson does a little bit of everything when the production is running — he studied film and media arts at Temple University — between shoots, he’s been tasked with helping to find new locations for future episodes, assuming the higher ups at Discovery Networks greenlight additional episodes, with the hope being that most of the next few can be shot in the immediate area.
“Right now, we’re looking for people who have barns and are willing to sell the contents,” he said. He noted that in addition to the proceeds from the auction, the production company will compensate the barn owners for shooting on the property — making it an opportunity to both get their barns little less full of stuff and put a bit of cash in their pockets.
When he’s not working on Money Barn, Hendrixson, an aspiring film director and writer, has worked on various film, documentary and commercial projects in the Delaware Valley.
Aside from all of the technical aspects — he does a little bit of everything except for sound at this point — learning how to function on a working set has been an important part of his learning, he said.
“Being on set is great,” he said. “I want to make sure that I can be comfortable — be part of a presence that makes everyone comfortable.”
If you have a barn that might be right for Money Barn, go to www.moneybarnshow.com to see if you might qualify to be among the next batch of barn owners featured on the show.
