Fresh Blood
Canadian drama Blood & Water is proof that if you want to think globally, start by looking at home. DQ speaks to the channel exec and the writer behind this trilingual crime series. As television drama becomes increasingly global both in front of and behind the camera, one show has set its focus closer to home. Featuring an Asian-Canadian cast and a storyline that blends Chinese culture with a traditional crime procedural, Blood & Water is the first ever scripted series produced for an Asian-Canadian audience. In particular, it stands out for reflecting multicultural, multi-generational and multilingual communities across Canada. And that was exactly what broadcaster Omni TV was looking for when it was pitched the show, which is produced in three different languages. “We do have a very large Asian population in Canada,” says Nataline Rodrigues, director of original programming at Omni parent Rogers. “There’s quite a large Asian audience in British Colombia and Ontario where we have two major footholds and we wanted to cater to this audience. We have a lot of acquired international features and dramas for the Asian community but we have so much talent here in the country, we wanted to break new ground with a new multilingual drama. “In this case, it’s quite organic in that we’ve got this multi-generational cast and it reflects how new generations speak at home with their parents – at times they’re speaking in English, they turn to Cantonese and if they’re speaking to their parents, they’re speaking … Continue reading Fresh Blood
