![]() ![]() One of the most important things a good adaptation understands is that specificity is key. Australian comedy has a different rhythm, pace and flavour to that of anywhere else. Plus, of course, we've had reality TV shows where things quickly spiral beyond any inappropriate awkwardness The Office ever came up with – think about Vanderpump Rules or Selling Sunset.Īustralia is different to the UK and the US, in the way we live, work, joke, date and play. Many of David Brent's 2001 exploits and jokes would see him quickly fired by any 2023 risk-averse company no matter how apathetic and downtrodden his staff might be.Īlso, when The Office came out, mockumentary felt fresh to television, now we've had Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, and our own The Games and Utopia. Humour and social mores will have changed: the world is a very different place in 2023 compared to 2001. Plus, culturally, Australia has been well-informed of and by the UK and US. The Office Australia might seem a simple prospect, given there have been two preceding series in English. (I brought television storytelling experience and relied on the Dutch writers for character specifics, local stories, cultural specificities, etc.) An Office in Australia? That's when I was brought in to work with the Dutch writers to completely redevelop the show for the local context. The Dutch version of the Yo Soy Betty, la Fea began shooting Dutch translations of Colombian scripts: the production shut down one week in as it became clear that none of the circumstances, relationships, tone, rhythm or humour made sense in a Dutch context. No matter how popular it was, how good the writing is, how funny the jokes are, translating scripts very rarely works due to cultural differences in humour, socio-economic circumstances and workplace politics. Ironically, one of the greatest mistakes screenwriters make is sticking too closely to the original. ![]() Variety's Brian Lowry said, "If this was a major hit in Australia," he said, "then something has been seriously lost in translation." Reviewers said of the American Kath and Kim that the humour was unfunny, the characters unlikeable and unrelatable. ![]() ![]() Recently, many international dramas have formed the basis for successful US shows, such as Israel's Prisoners of War (2010-2012) becoming Homeland (Showtime, 2011-2020), and the Danish/Swedish Noir series The Bridge (2011-2018) spawning The Bridge (US/Mexico), as well as The Tunnel (UK/France), The Bridge (Russia/Estonia), The Bridge (Malaysia/Singapore), Der Pass (Germany/Austria) and Gefyra (Greece/Turkey). Audiences are savvy and want nuance, history, politics, issues. It requires a deep commitment to developing a show as if it was a new idea, even if it is based on an existing series. Localising is not just changing a few small details, it requires driving characters and stories from deep within a local culture and storytelling tradition. What Grundy Television realised and honed was that to give an international remake the best chance of success, writers and producers need to be willing to pull a series back to its foundational concept – such as twins separated at birth meet and fall in love, a women's prison, neighbours becoming good friends – and then to build culturally informed stories and characters from that. And long-running soap opera Neighbours has been the basis of shows in Poland, Sweden and Slovakia.Ī common factor in all of these is the internationally successful Grundy Television and creator Reg Watson. The Australian classic Prisoner became the highly popular Hinter Gittern (1997-2007) in Germany. Sons and Daughters has versions in Germany (Verboten Liebe, 1995-2015) and Croatia, (Zabranjena Ljubav, 2004-2008). Australian television concepts from the 1970s and 1980s travelled remarkably well. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |