TV show based on Wine Country planned

A new TV show featuring wine, food, arts, celebrities and "the lifestyles of Napa and Sonoma Valleys" is being planned by a Napa financial planner and a Bay Area television producer. It would be produced in a new studio at the former Copia site in downtown Napa and would star "General Hospital" actress Jackie Zeman and Raymond Vineyards owner Jean-Charles Boisset.

"Adventures in Napa" is the dream of Mark Richmond, a former banker, and Bill Asmussen, a former ABC producer and director now working independently.

The two are marketing themselves as executive producers of Napa Valley Studios.

"Bill and I are self-financing this project," said Richmond, who has 29 years of banking and finance experience in California, served as Napa Chamber of Commerce president and is president of the Kiwanis Club of Napa.

"The network that picks up the show will do the bulk of the financing for pilots and actual production," he said. "We have received interest in a couple of our show concepts, but at this point we are working to put our shows in front of producers and networks that are the most likely to share our vision and want to put the shows on the air."

Billed by Richmond as "an idea 40 years in the making," the show would launch in 2014 and promote "America's premier wine growing regions getting the attention and recognition they deserve, with a little help from their celebrity friends."

Celebrities to be featured, according to Richmond and Asmussen, could include Chefs Thomas Keller, Guy Fieri, Michael Chiarello and Ken Frank; comedian Robin Williams; film producer Francis Ford Coppola; Margrit Mondavi; Diane Disney Miller, and musician Rick Springfield.

"We have contacted a few celebrities and know that a few are friends or associates of our celebrities," Richmond said. "The task becomes much easier once we are in production and have a network spot. Contact is typically made between our and their theatrical or legal representation if there is not a direct personal relationship."

Richmond and Asmussen envision a new digital, state-of-the-art studio at Copia, which opened in 2001 as a cultural museum and discovery center but went bankrupt in 2008 due to poor attendance. Napa Valley Studios would be part of the building's "reincarnation" as a media center and tourist attraction.

The building's 275-seat theater could be a larger studio, suitable for "all kinds of live or recorded shows" and "an excellent venue for tourist related presentations including live performances and shows featuring out celebrity chefs," according to a news release.

"Napa Valley Studios has many associations with vintners, winemakers, chefs, restaurants and many famous residents of the Valley," it continued. "Collectively, this coalition will bring Napa focused TV concepts and finished programs to national and international viewing audiences via cable, network and internet distribution platform."

Richmond said he has spoken to Copia redeveloper Keith Rogal, who is working for the Copia Liquidating Trust, the bankrupt property's controlling entity.

"Keith told me that a television studio is in the realm of what they could see for the property and has been discussed," said Richmond. "Our proposal, once we have shows in production, is to become a Copia lessee and then make the facilities available."

Plans to re-use Copia for offices were halted by the city's planning commission following a protest by the Coalition to Preserve Copia, which is calling for a city-approved reuse master plan for the 12-acre site.

A hearing on the trust's appeal of the commission ruling is scheduled for Nov. 5.