Coming soon…
12/02/2015
Coming soon… The saga of writing Zero Point (Nullpunkt) film and 6-part TV drama from August 2010 until December 2013.
The Class: Life After on DVD out now
13/12/2010
The Class: Life After is now available at ERR web store and ERR shop at Faehlmanni 12, Tallinn.
Subtitles: Estonian, English, Russian, Finnish
Price: 129 EEK / 8.25 EUR
They do deliver abroad and they will let you know the delivery charge when you email pood@err.ee
I’ll post more information when the DVD becomes available from other sellers online.
Life After
19/10/2010
Recently released theme song of The Class: Life After.
The first episode of the 7-part TV drama will air on Estonian TV on 6 November but starting from 29 October each episode will run at cinema Artis (Tallinn) for one week before it’s aired on TV.
Notes from BBC’s TV Drama Writers Festival held in Leeds 30.06-01.07, 2010. The festival was organised by BBC Writersroom.
Masterclass with John Yorke
What exactly is a series?
What do successful series have in common?
- Compelling characters
- A self-contained story (the whole and/or underpinning spine)
- A clear and renewable “story engine” (emotional jeopardy) (such as ‘crime of the week’)
- Rigorous point of view (clear rules)
- ‘One day’ time scheme
- They are “about” something (not just cops but, for example, cops in Thatcher’s Britain, the changes in demographics, etc.)
- Limited change (drama is change, things must move but drama series rely on not changing – which is a paradox) Characters don’t change but characters’ knowledge does. They learn new things (that will help catch the criminal, for example) Read the rest of this entry »
Notes from BBC’s TV Drama Writers Festival held in Leeds 30 June – 1 July, 2010. The festival was organised by BBC Writersroom.
In this post:
- Writer for Hire: How do you get original work on screen?
- ‘They Won’t Like That’: Do we all try to second guess the commissioners?
- In Conversation: TV Drama Read the rest of this entry »
Series producer Gerda Kordemets and actor Margus Prangel receiving the awards.
I’m very pleased to announce that the TV drama series The Class: Life After has won two awards at the RomaFictionFest 2010. The awards were for Best Product in the TV Drama section and for Best Leading Actor in the TV Drama section which went to Margus Prangel for his lead role in episode 2 titled “I Won’t Die Despite You” (directed by Gerda Kordemets).
The IV edition of RomaFictionFest was held 5-10 July 2010 in Rome.
The Class: Life After is produced by Estonian Public Broadcasting and will air on ETV in autumn 2010.
Last year, The Class: Life After also won the main prize Reflet d’Or for Best Series at the Cinema Tous Ecrans 2009 Festival in Switzerland.
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European Broadcasting Union news
Quote:
“The jury for the International Competition of the RomaFictionFest, chaired by Irish-Canadian actor A.J. Buckley (X-Files, Millenium), was impressed by the quality of the production and the incredibly realistic script and acting. The International Jury chose to honour The Class, Life After with the Award for Best Drama for the awards following reasons:
- For the use of a spare, unobtrusive and nevertheless incisive gaze upon its subjects;
- For the masterly tonal handling of a powerful and delicate subject matter;
- For the courage and human insight on display in the writing, directing and bringing to life of Klass: Elu Pärast;
- And finally for the overall artistic quality of the product which brought an innovative and highly cinematic experience to European television drama.”
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The Class: Life After on IMDB
RomaFictionFest press release
Variety: Estonian telepic at head of ‘Class’
Estonian press:
Elu24
ERR Uudised
Transcribed on day 1 of BBC’s TV Drama Writers’ Festival on 30th June 2010.
Poacher Turned Gamekeeper
Showrunners, the balancing act.
With Toby Whithouse, Tony Jordan, Alice Nutter and Stephen Butchard
Why is it important to be a showrunner?
They used to call them executive producers or creative producers but that title caused a lot of confusion because people didn’t understand it. It didn’t make it clear whether they’re writers or producers.
Tony Jordan: You’ve got one vision – it should remain with the creator, not hand it over to an ‘accountant’. Also, you’ve got no one else to blame if the script is not good.
Toby Whithouse: It’s important to know when to delegate. You leave the directing to a director who is a professional but the writer can have a say and make decisions about costume and other details. It’ll help keep the whole thing following the concept, one vision. That’s encouraging for writers.
The 7-part TV drama The Class: Life After has won the main prize Reflet d’Or for the best series at the Cinema Tous Ecrans festival in Switzerland.
It’s the first time an Estonian TV series has been accepted into an international competition. It competed with 15 other shows from Finland, France, UK, Canada, Denmark, Brazil and US.
The first two episodes of the series were screened at the festival. Due to the economic climate and despite cutting the 12-part series down to 7, the production had to halt early last spring after filming had been completed on only four episodes. At the moment the production has resumed and filming will start early next year. The 5th episode was written in spring and it’s now in pre-production while I’m writing the last two episodes. The series will air on Estonian TV in autumn 2010.
The Class: Life After is a follow-up to the feature film The Class (not the French one) and deals with the aftermath of a school shooting. Each one-hour episode focuses on a different character who survived or witnessed the tragic event. There are kids from the class, their parents, the class teacher, a boy who survived the shooting, and finally, one of the culprits in the very last episode.
The series is produced by Gerda Kordemets (Estonian Public Broadcasting and European Broadcasting Union) and directed by Ilmar Raag, Gerda Kordemets, Liina Paakspuu, Priit Valkna and Marek Miil.
More:
EBU on the award:
“The jury for the International Series, Collections & Long Dramas was particularly impressed by the series and wanted to reward it, along with more than 10 others, “for its structure and its extremely ambitious subject matter, together with the incredibly realistic script and acting.”
Eurovision Fiction congratulates ERR, Gerda Kordemets and Ilmar Raag and thanks them for providing the world of European fiction with ambitious programmes of such high quality.”
The Class: Life After at Cinema Tous Ecrans
17/09/2009
The currently 4-part TV series The Class: Life After has been included in the Official Competition of Cinema Tous Ecrans Festival. The festival of film, TV and other media takes place in Geneva, Switzerland on November 2-8, 2009.
The Class: Life After is a follow-up to the feature film The Class (Estonia, 2007) and deals with the aftermath of a school shooting. Four out of seven one-hour episodes have been shot and edited and the project is still in production.
The Festival programme will be available from 22nd of October on the Festival website.
Current projects – Class: Life After
17/08/2009
CLASS: LIFE AFTER
(KLASS: ELU PÄRAST)
TV Drama (returning series)
7 x 58min episodes.
Producer: Gerda Kulli-Kordemets
Estonian Public Broadcasting in co-production with European Broadcasting Union
The 7-episode TV Drama is a follow-up to the feature film The Class (2007, dir. Ilmar Raag). Each episode of the series is a self-contained story following a different character overcoming the tragedy of a school shooting. The first episode is about a girl who survived the shooting, the second about the father of one of the shooters, etc. The stories focus on personal experiences and relationships of the characters involved. The series is targeted for teenage and family audiences.
Four episodes have been shot and edited. The originally 12-episode series was due to air in autumn 2009 but the economic downturn has put the production on hold till 2010.
Margit Keerdo 