‘Summer House’ Moves West

Cast members from "Summer House," the first season of which aired over the winter, partied hard. This year, instead of a house on Napeague — which they called Montauk — they are setting up at a house in Water Mill.

Jun. 8, 2017

Taylor K. Vecsey

Bravo’s reality series “Summer House” will be moving from Napeague to Water Mill after it was denied a filming permit in East Hampton Town.

Southampton Town has approved an application for the series to shoot for 40 days this the summer, beginning the weekend of June 23, with a small crew setting up two days before. The filming will continue for 10 weekends, through Labor Day. Filed by Truly Original L.L.C., the application indicates that there will be 35 people, including cast and crew, at each filming session.

“Summer House” follows nine 20 and 30-somethings who live and work in Manhattan, but spend weekends at their share house. They spent last summer at a house that was billed as being in Montauk, though it was really on the harbor side of Napeague.

From the start, the show got the cold shoulder. Several businesses refused to let the show film on their property, and the community seemed to rail against it, comparing it to the “Jersey Shore” reality series on MTV. In fact, much of the public scenes that aired on the show were on beaches and establishments located in Southampton Town or Village.

With Bravo picking up the show for another season and being denied a permit last month in East Hampton, the show looked for digs in the seemingly friendlier Town of Southampton.

However, under a new law passed earlier this year, filming the show, even at the private residence at 1451 Deerfield Road, required a permit if there would be 12 or more people involved in the production. The daily permit fee is $500, with a $250 non-refundable fee, meaning that the show will pay a total of $20,250 to the town, according to Kimberly Ottati, the deputy town clerk.

“Even if they can get away without needing a film permit, which is possible . . . they would still have a problem with the longstanding rental law,” said Supervisor Jay Schneiderman. No more than four unrelated people can rent a house, he said.

“Maybe they will marry everybody and then they will be related, we’ll see,” Mr. Schneiderman added with a laugh.

Described by Nest Seekers as a private compound, the eight-bedroom, 8.5-bathroom house sits on 5.2 acres on Deerfield Road. The property boasts a pool, a tennis court, and a fully furnished basement with an entertainment center, pool table, and kitchenette. It is listed for rent for $130,000 for July 1 through Labor Day, and for sale for about $5 million.