On January 22, 2014, it was announced that ABC had given a straight-to-series 13-episode order to a drama series from the Academy Award-nominated writers David O. Russell and Susannah Grant. The script for the pilot episode was written by Grant. Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly are also executive producers of show. Members Only was produced by CBS Television Studios and ABC Studios. Original title of the series was The Club. The series is described as an upstairs-downstairs soap opera set at a private country club. On February 26, 2014, it was announced that David O. Russell departed the series as executive producer. The series began filming in New York Cityin September 2014. The first episode was directed by R. J. Cutler, who in 2012 directed the critically acclaimed pilot episode of the ABC drama series Nashville.
Casting
was the first regular member to be cast, being announced on February 26, 2014. Hernandez was cast as club worker Ana, who is secretly stealing and pawning nice items. On March 7, 2014 Canadian actor Chris Conroy was cast as Forty Holmes, who is recently back from rehab. On March 24, 2014 Breaking Bad co-star Betsy Brandt joined the cast as one of lead roles as Leslie Holmes. On next dayMaria Canals-Barrera was cast as Hilda, the house manager of the country club and mother of Hernandez' character. On March 27, 2014, it was announced that Boris Kodjoe would play the role of Deacon, a former football player who is now a real estate broker in the club. In July 2014 Luke Mitchell and Jaime Lee Kirchner were cast as an employee at the club named Jesse, and Diana, the wife of Deacon. On July 24, 2014, it was announced that Michael Landes was cast as one of the leads, playing Malcolm Carr, a recently widowed pediatrician and father who is close friend with Leslie. On August 4, 2014, it was announced that Natalie Zea would be playing the leading role of Mickey Holmes-Harris, a "queen bee" of the club and her family. On September 2, 2014, John Stamos joined the cast in the male lead role of Mickey's hedge-fund billionaire husband, Randy Harris.
Cast and characters
The show features an ensemble cast, headed by Natalie Zea as lead character Mickey Holmes-Harris. The upstairs-downstairs drama also stars John Stamos as Randy, her villainous billionaire husband; Betsy Brandt as Leslie Holmes; Michael Landes as Malcolm; Chris Conroy as Forty Holmes, Mickey's 23-year-old brother; Boris Kodjoe as Deacon and Jaime Lee Kirchner as Deacon's wife Diana. On the downstairs side, Maria Canals-Barrera stars as Hilda, the house manager of the country club; Callie Hernandez as Ana, Hilda's daughter; and Luke Mitchell as Jesse, the new employee at the club. Alongside regular cast members, the series has several recurring players, including John Cullum as Winston Holmes III, Mickey's father, and Rebecca Forsythe, Devyn Smith and Bailey Noble as Mickey and Randy's 17-year-old triplet-daughters.
