Port woman brings Hollywood to town

Lynn Schanen may be coming to a TV or streaming service near you.

The owner of Wait-A-While Playschool in the Town of Saukville was featured this month on a pilot for a show called “Mystic Meals,” an interactive cooking show featuring celebrity chef Nicole Guzman, known as “Nikki Meow,” of Los Angeles.

Schanen was selected thanks to the Town of Port Washington’s Sara Dahmen, a coppersmith who makes copper cookware and the author of several novels who has connections in Hollywood.

“She’s my best friend so I say yes to pretty much anything she asks,” Schanen said.

Schanen’s nature-based playschool and farm-to-table lifestyle — she raises her own chickens and ducks — was a draw for the show.

“I talked with Chef Nikki, and she said she wanted it to be all natural and authentic. I said ‘I’m the girl for you then. I’m not going to dress up and wear makeup,’” Schanen said.

Schanen’s streak of bad luck also sparked Guzman’s interest. A heat lamp accident in February caused her chicken coop to burn down, killing 30 chickens. Months later, another heat lamp accident burned down her duck building. This time the birds were able to get out.

The mystic element of the show addresses negative energy involved in bad luck, Schanen said. Guzman did an astrological reading for Schanen, who is an Aquarius.

Then it came time to eat. Schanen had six ducks before the show started. She had four after filming.

Guzman gave Schanen a lesson in how to cook ducks. Crystals and burning sage helped create positive energy, and herbs and spices made the dishes delicious. One was broasted in the oven and another was cooked in a skillet and shredded before being added to pasta.

“It all tasted amazing and very different than if I did it on my own,” Schanen said.

Dahmen, who served as the show’s writer and producer, said she met Guzman about a year ago when they had the same manager in L.A. Dahmen drew Guzman’s name in a secret Santa exchange among the clients, and they began corresponding.

Dahmen also knew Tim Boissey, who had worked on “The Biggest Loser” and became the director of the pilot.

“It became, just as anything does in the film industry, ‘Hey, do you want to do this?” Dahmen said.

She said she knew Schanen would be a good first guest for the show, and the crew decided to film in Wisconsin instead of L.A.

“We wanted to make it more earthy than a sterile cooking show,” Dahmen said, adding the Midwest location also saved money.

The cooking scenes were filmed in Dahmen’s house.

“We covered my kitchen cabinets in moss. There was tons of prepping involved,” she said.

To add to the local vibe of the show, some portions were filmed at Port businesses Bernie’s Fine Meats, Vine to Cellar and Eclectic Avenue. That also avoided making another “stand and stir” cooking show, Dahmen said.

“It kept us out of the kitchen almost the entire episode,” she said. “Chef Nikki wanted to do as much local stuff as possible.”

While cameras rolled often to keep the show as real as possible, sometimes people were asked to say their lines over while looking at the camera.

“Reality TV is scripted even though people say it’s reality TV,” Dahmen said.

The show is now in the editing and sound mixing stage. Dahmen said she will see the final cut sometime in mid-January. She plans on attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah in late January to network.

“People in the industry show their power about how they can connect dots,” Dahmen said.

She said the show will be shopped around to TV networks and not likely go directly to streaming. Dahmen will work with her agent at United Talent Agency in L.A.

“You just have to get it in front of your agent and they take care of everything,” she said.

If a network or streaming service buys the show, Dahmen will either become part of the crew that travels across the country to film shows or the concept will be purchased and different people will be brought in to run it.