The hair apparents

Dusty Simington doesn’t mince words when he sets the standards for his students at Salon Gregorie’s.

“Efficiency is key ? so is cleanliness, so basically you have to be perfect,” he told the dozen-plus students gathered on the top floor of the Newport Beach hair hot spot where master stylist Simington works with the some of the top hair professionals in Southern California.

Television producers hope Simington’s passion for excellence and impeccable style bode well with viewers craving more sights and sounds from the “OC.” This week, Los Angeles production company Midnight Media is filming a television pilot at the Newport Center salon with hopes of selling a short series to networks like VH1 or MTV.

The concept for the show follows a handful of recent beauty-school grads as they learn what it’s like to cut hair in a high-end salon.

To work as a stylist at Salon Gregorie’s, cosmetology students must participate in a program taught by Simington that lasts from nine months to several years.

A 10-person film crew led by executive producer Peter Mikhail of Los Angeles and brothers Thomas and Joel Moser of Burbank filmed the students Monday as Simington led a class on “inversion” ? a technique of layering long hair ? with his students.

“This doll has the worst plugs I’ve ever seen,” he joked with his class as they carefully watched him work his magic on a mannequin. “She’s one chromosome away from a Neanderthal.”

After the lecture, students crammed into the upstairs studio to practice the technique on their own dolls while Simington and other professors looked on and offered advice. Students have to repeat the process three times in one day ? taking in an exhausting amount of knowledge on hair cutting.

“It gets really frustrating and hard,” said stylist and instructor Anthony Cress. “It really matters how driven they are to get through the program.”

Besides the high workload and even higher expectations, students must make weekly scouting trips to recruit models to showcase their styling talents. Students often choose shopping centers like Fashion Island to do their recruiting, but finding willing participants is tough.

“If you go out and ask 100 people to volunteer to let you cut their hair, you’ll get like five who will agree to it, and of that, only two or three will actually work for the cut you’re trying to do,” Cress said.

Producer Mikhail said the high pressure of the program makes for enticing television. One student offered to give his models free haircuts for the rest of their lives if they agreed to participate in one class with him.

“The people here are really what make the show,” Mikhail said. “[Simington] is really passionate about being his best and a lot of people really respond to that.”

Describing the pilot as “The Apprentice meets the Real World,” Mikhail said he and his fellow producers did their best not to interfere with the participants, but tried to honestly capture the energy at Salon Gregorie’s. While the show doesn’t follow a game format where contestants get kicked off each week, students will compete to win prizes like accompanying Simington on a photo shoot of Tiffani-Amber Thiessen or a trip to New York for the North American Hair Styling Awards. Salon Gregorie’s has been nominated for seven awards this year ? a record for the awards academy.

While the focus of the show will be on Simington’s students, a large appeal is the master stylist’s bigger-than-life personality.

“The minute I met him, I thought, ‘This guy belongs on television,’ ” Mikhail said.

The show follows Simington as he rubs elbows with his celebrity friends, dines at Orange County hot spots and works on an endless array of clientele. Story producer Thomas Moser said he’s seen Simington work on three clients at the same time, making each feel comfortable, appreciated and most importantly, beautiful.

“I’ve really enjoyed watching Dusty [Simington’s] interactions with people,” Moser said. “He raises the bar for people around him.” dpt-09-salon1-jt-CPhotoInfoCI1QOH5620060509iyz0z7ncJAMIE FLANAGAN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Jeremy Settles, left, films Dusty Simington, center, as he instructs student Josh Roberts at Salon Gregorie’s on Monday for a pilot of the reality show “Making the Cut.”