Ohio State graduate James Emley (left) and his wife Fiona (right) being coached by Louis Barajas in their home during their time on “Opportunity Knock$.” Credit: Jamie Strayer
Award-winning, unscripted television series “Opportunity Knock$” is casting Columbus families for its second season shooting this fall.
The show — created and executively produced by Ohio State alum Jamie Strayer — profiles American families that are struggling financially and gives them the necessary tools to save significant amounts of money, according to a Sept. 26 press release from the Opportunity Knocks Group. Local families can submit a casting application through the series’ website, with the deadline being Wednesday.
Strayer said although this is an open casting call, there are specific qualities the show searches for when casting a family.
“We’re looking for good people that are underestimated,” Strayer said. “The people that we can help are the ones that are open to seeing that it’s not their fault and they’re not ashamed, and as a result, they’re willing to receive the guidance knowing that they’re going to inspire people.”
Strayer said the show features “real people solving real problems” in order to show viewers they are capable of overcoming financial difficulties.
“To the 42 percent of Americans living on survival budgets, do they need financial solutions more or do they need financial education more?” Strayer said. “I’d say they need financial solutions.”
The show provides these solutions with the help of opportunity coaches, Strayer said. These coaches include former NBC Today Financial Editor Jean Chatzky, award-winning author and financial expert Patrice Washington and CEO of Business Management LAB and International Private Wealth Advisors Louis Barajas, according to the series’ website.
“They’re the guides, but they’re not educating people like there’s something wrong with them,” Strayer said. “There’s not anything wrong with someone that’s struggling financially, they’re doing their best.”
“Opportunity Knock$” also offers cast members an up to $20,000 prize to celebrate their journeys with the opportunity coaches, though Strayer said oftentimes the experience itself ended up saving families more money than the cash reward.
“I will share that the families featured in season one saved more money and increased their income by more than the financial award at the end,” Strayer said.
Strayer said opportunity coaching is done with the help of a comprehensive search engine called “The Opportunity Finder,” which is capable of connecting families to a wide array of nonprofit financial resources.
“Fast forward to 2023, the internet brings services into our home and search technology and the idea occurred to me,” Strayer said. “They can have that power in their own hands and that power is to directly connect with these nonprofits in their own community to get ahead.”
Strayer said The Opportunity Finder can help educate people about avoiding predatory loans, reducing credit card interest rates, resume training, LGBTQ+ resources, veteran resources, starting a business and more.
As stated in the press release, The Opportunity Finder is designed to level the playing field by helping individuals make and keep more of their own money, and to overcome the many challenges that compound keeping people stuck in cycles of debt.”
Strayer said her mother and overall upbringing were inspirations for not only the search engine’s creation but also the show itself.
“I grew up in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and my mom ran the employment office, and in that community, it meant more than paper pushing,” Strayer said. “She helped families and directed them to emergency services.”
Strayer said she personally experienced some of the financial struggles that are addressed both in the show and on The Opportunity Finder during her time at Ohio State, before she graduated in 1999.
“My family did not have those financial struggles growing up, but I did when I got pregnant in college,” Strayer said. “The struggle I faced is so much less than what BIPOC individuals and families face.”
Strayer said issues that uniquely affect American minority groups — unconscious bias, redlining and lack of generational wealth — contributed to the core values of social justice when creating “Opportunity Knock$.”
“Our biggest value is everyone deserves access to opportunity,” Strayer said.
The show’s casting pool is sufficiently large, as it aims to “help the 60% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, and 42% living on survival budgets,” the press release states.
At the end of the day, Strayer said financial status should not define a person and everyone has the desire and ability to live a better life. “Opportunity Knock$” aims to eliminate some of the negative stigma surrounding financial struggles, she said.
“Even the label ‘low-income’ is just mean, low-income is not what a person is, it’s just what they’re earning right now,” Strayer said. “The spirit of ‘Opportunity Knock$’ is that everybody wants to live their best life. Who do you know that doesn’t want to live their best life?”
Season one was broadcast on WOSU and will stream on PBS stations through 2024. More information about “Opportunity Knock$” can be found on its website.
