MOVIES & TV

HGTV signs Two Chicks and a Hammer to 10-episode deal

Vic Ryckaert
vic.ryckaert@indystar.com

Two Chicks and a Hammer, the mother-daughter house renovation team based in Fountain Square, will star in their own cable TV show.

HGTV inked a 10-episode deal for a series that will follow Mina Starsiak, 30, and Karen E. Laine, 55, as they transform homes in Indianapolis.

The production schedule means the small company will quadruple its workload this year, Laine said.

"This pace is not a pace I'm familiar with," Laine said. "Now, the production company has done it before. They are experts. I'm going to rely on their expertise and my ability to work like a donkey, and we're going to be fine."

A High Noon Entertainment talent scout found the duo while searching for another company on Facebook, Laine said. After a long interview process, High Noon shot a pilot last fall. That pilot, "Two Chicks and a Hammer," debuted May 4 on HGTV.

Laine, a defense attorney, said she will close her legal practice so she can focus with Starsiak on growing Two Chicks and a Hammer and keeping up with the filming schedule.

The company has rehabilitated more than 20 homes since it launched about seven years ago. When filming starts in late June, the company will complete 10 homes over six months.

The first episode of the new series is scheduled to air in early 2016, Laine said.

"We think most viewers can relate to the ups and downs of their mother-daughter relationship, but beyond that, they're two amazing women," Executive Producer Glenna Stacer Sayles said in an email to The Star.

"Mina and Karen are savvy businesswomen who are passionate about their mission to improve Indianapolis."

Sayles said producers fell in love with Indianapolis while filming the pilot and plan to use a lot of the city's iconic scenery as the series unfolds.

"Most people outside the Midwest have no idea it's such a big city with so much small town charm," Sayles said. "People who live in Indianapolis seem to love it, which is why it's so exciting to see Mina and Karen revitalizing their neighborhood one house at a time."

Laine and Starsiak focus on the worst homes in a neighborhood, often properties that have been condemned and slated to be demolished. They typically gut the houses down to the 2-by-4 studs and rebuild everything. Their company invests about $180,000 in each home, and sells them for about $234,000.

Starsiak and Laine (who recently changed her name from Karen Jensen) have built a reputation for turning dumps into gorgeous homes in the Fountain Square area.

With property values on the rise in Fountain Square, Two Chicks and a Hammer is branching out to other neighborhoods in need.

"I think we're in a great area at a great time," Laine said. "People appreciate urban living in a way they didn't 10 years ago."

Call Star reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @VicRyc.