Docudrama Casts Couples for Arranged Marriages

Docudrama Casts Couples for Arranged Marriages

Peabody Award-winning Producers Magical Elves (Top Chef, Project Greenlight) Team with Lifetime to Find Men and Women Ready to Take a Leap of Faith into an Arranged Marriage

LOS ANGELES, June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Casting is open to men and women eager to explore an ancient cultural practice of finding a lifelong mate in the upcoming docudrama Arranged Marriage, from Magical Elves (Top Chef, Project Greenlight, Step It Up & Dance) and Lifetime. Individuals who are ready to commit to marriage with a match selected by their closest loved ones can apply at http://www.arrangedmarriagetv.com/. Cameras will then document the couple's first year of marriage.

"This has the potential to be one of the most interesting social experiments in years," said Executive Producer Jane Lipsitz, founder of Magical Elves along with producing partner Dan Cutforth. "The concept of finding a mate for life is universal, and we are excited to bring this journey to television."

Approximately half of all marriages end in divorce, but arranged marriages have a success rate estimated at 85%. The practice of using a matchmaker has soared in popularity, and an arranged marriage puts the people who know you best in the matchmaking role.

"Most of us choose our partners and relationships based on chemistry, which is actually looking down a path of destruction in a lot of ways," said Lisa Clampitt, Executive Director of the Matchmaking Institute and someone who has advised the show. "The show will shake things up a bit by making people rethink the way that they're finding love."

Arranged marriage worked for David and Elizabeth Weinlick, who will serve as consultants on the show. The couple is celebrating ten years of marriage and three children together after tying the knot the day they met. The Weinlicks appeared on NBC's Today this morning to discuss their journey, which began with a campaign staged by David's closest friends to find his bride.

"The traditional dating realm did not seem conducive to finding a long term life partnership that was healthy and successful and happy," said David Weinlick.

"I just recognized that dating in my experience always resulted in a relationship that just wasn't very fulfilling. So I thought maybe this will be a different way to have that fulfilling relationship," said Elizabeth Weinlick.

Loved ones will match selected participants based on shared goals, values, experiences, and commitment to the relationship. Those willing to take the leap of faith for a healthy, loving, sturdy relationship should log on to http://www.arrangedmarriagetv.com/.

About Magical Elves

The Magical Elves are the production team behind television's best reality fare. The Elves, Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth, have been nominated for seven Emmys in the seven years they have been working together and are the recipients of the first Peabody Award ever presented to a reality television program for Project Runway. The duo has developed and produced shows for NBC, ABC, Bravo, and HBO, including Project Runway, Top Chef, Last Comic Standing, Project Greenlight, Air Guitar Nation, Character Roadtrip, and Treasure Hunters. Cutforth and Lipsitz continue to pioneer the genre of upscale reality competition with the recent Bravo series Step it Up & Dance, a show about the passion it takes to make it in the professional dance industry, and Nickelodeon's Dance on Sunset, a hip-hop dance variety show for tweens. The prolific twosome met while producing Bands on the Run at VH1 in 2001 and became magical soon afterwards.

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Source: Magical Elves

CONTACT: Amy Glickman of BNC, +1-212-253-4646, aglickman@bncpr.com, for
Magical Elves

Web site: http://www.arrangedmarriagetv.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment