El Rey Debuts Cutting Crew, A Reality Show For The Rest of Us
Your image of barber shop bullshitting is about to get a major reboot.
Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey network is becoming known for its culturally diverse programming that is as smart and badass as his films have been. Now El Rey is adding its first unscripted series to its lineup. The brand new series “Cutting Crew” is being presented as a docuseries and follows the life inside a Lancaster Pennsylvania barber shop, where the barbers are young and ‘talking shop’ has entered the new millenium. Each hour long episode follows the five man team of shop owner and award-winning barber Amit Corso, his troublemaking and always late second-in-command Dré Gonzalez, resident instigator Gaby Rivera, Bryan “the quiet one” Sanchez, and Alex a former barber who is trying to earn his chair back by enduring whatever the guys throw at him.
“Cutting Crew” definitely showcases some beautiful artistry in the cuts ranging from simple fades to cuts in the shape of the Pittsburgh skyline, a basketball hoop, portraits, personal logos and freestyles. But the real story here is what goes on between (and during) the cuts. Ball busting is rampant. The pranks, the bickering, debates of current culture like the Walking Dead, figuring out how to be a dad, feats of strength and doing their best to antagonize each other, makes for a reality show for a younger, hipper generation that will appeal to those who don’t particularly care about what a rich housewife buys this week or who can survive longer in the wild.
We talked with executive producer Flavio Morales, and shop owner Amit Corso about their experiences creating the series, which found its way to El Rey after Corso heard rumors that programmers were looking for barbers. “Basically I heard about a few other companies that were interested in having reality shows for barbers so I made a submission tape that I was going to use,” Corso said. He knew he had something special in his shop, where, he says there’s never a dull moment. “There’s always something going on and it’s so diverse from age groups, ethnicity, you kind of get a little bit of everything in the shop.”
Producer Flavio Morales had been working with another shop in Texas to develop a show for weeks, when suddenly the shop backed out of the deal. It was a huge letdown. “We had spent almost a month with this guy,” he told us. “That afternoon I got a random email of a link. And Amit had paid a camera guy to shoot the shop…and put it out and sent it out to different people and it somehow got to me. As soon as we saw it, we spoke to him that afternoon and the next day we had a development deal with him.” It was that fast.
Morales knew almost instantly that it was a great show for El Rey. “My take on hanging out with them was like ‘oh my God this is what the new American male’ is all about. They care about their image, they’re small town guys with big aspirations and big goals. They may not sing, they may not dance, but man are they popular creating these styles.” When he got the chance to pitch the show to Robert Rodriguez, the pitch was simple. “I understand what you’re doing with the network– this is your audience. These are the guys that are going to be watching El Rey.”
“The haircuts are a part of the show,” Morales said, “But they’re not the only parts of the show.” The show is literally bubbling with funny stories, as the guys entertain each other to keep the day moving, and that energy is contagious, laugh out loud funny, and makes for great television.
One of the running themes throughout the series is the return of Alex, a talented barber who more or less left the shop in the lurch when he moved to Florida. In the first episode, Alex has to prove himself to the guys which means enduring the guys “dicking” his car, some feats of humiliation which include a new really unflattering haircut, and he has to promise to stop watching porn in the shop.
Amit runs a tight shop, but he isn’t above being a part of the pranks, particularly if one of his barbers gets out of line. If someone is late, or takes too many personal calls, falls asleep or isn’t doing his job, the shop has their own unique system of keeping each other on track– public shaming. And it happens often throughout the series. But they do know where to draw the line– most of the time. “We kind of got rules among us barbers.” Corso explained. “You’ve got to know your surroundings, so if there’s kids in the shop you can’t do certain things obviously, you got to be professional. But if it’s just us in the shop, it’s kind of anything goes, cause it’s just us.”
We asked Corso if working on the series has changed the guys. “Some of my barbers, they’re ready for Hollywood,” he said. “They think they’ve got acting careers coming, and everything. You never know what could happen.”
The show has outstanding chemistry and pacing, and with so many budding stars working the shop, we didn’t think it was too early to ask, will there be a season two or is this a one season and out? Morales assured us he and the guys are ready to run if the network says yes. “There’s so much more. We didn’t even scratch the surface of Lancaster which to me is so rich in available story,” he said. “That town is a complete reflection of the country where you have Amish and Mennonites and then you have Dominicans and you have African Americans…it’s just a snapshot of what America looks like.”
“Cutting Crew” is produced by BIG VIDA Entertainment for El Rey Network. Executive Producers are: Flavio Morales, John Ehrhard, Sergio Alfaro, El Rey Network Chairman Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures and El Rey Network co-founders John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa.
El Rey Network will debut the all-new eight-episode unscripted series, “Cutting Crew” with a 24-hour marathon event on Saturday, April 11th at beginning at 6:00 am ET. The season will restart at 2:00 PM ET and 10:00 PM ET giving viewers binge-watching options throughout the day. The hour-long show will also air Wednesdays at 9pm beginning April 15th, following the 8 PM ET/PT airing of “Lucha Underground.”
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