The Wannabes is an American television sitcom, created by Doreen Spicer-Dannelly (of Disney Channel's Jump In! and The Proud Family), which follows the lives of classical performing arts high school students who want to be popstars. The six stars of the series are from the pop recording group, Savvy. Despite not having been produced or filmed in Australia, the series premiered on June 14, 2010, on both ABC1 and ABC3 in a "tween" oriented timeslot. Pay-TV channel Starz Kids & Family picked up U.S. rights.
The Wannabes follows six high school students attending an arts academy boarding school in hope that they will become popstars, until they realize the oppressive academy only teaches classical music and dance. Throughout the series they face issues about their careers, normal teen lives and are always trying to avoid their mean principal at every cost because he loves detentions.[1]
The filming for seasons 1 and 2 began on August 3, 2009 in Howell, Michigan. 26 episodes were filmed. Filming was proposed to be done in Houston, Texas. The school they film at is Parker High School campus in Michigan.[2] The series is produced by Savvy Productions, LLC and Stern-LeMaire Productions Inc., and distributed by Bradford Licensing LLC.[3] One of the producers, Christine LeMaire, explained the series is not going to be a Disney Channel original series, "No, it is an independent production licensed to overseas networks."[3]
