By Sophie Ludgin
We are now in a golden age of international television offering an opportunity for more diversity on the screen, television executive Rick Rosen told a UC Santa Barbara audience last week, after the Pollock Theater screened an episode of HBO's limited series Scenes from A Marriage.
Rick Rosen, co-founder of the Endeavor talent agency and recent guest speaker at a Pollock Theater event that screened an episode of the HBO limited series Scenes from a Marriage.
"Things have evolved so much. Now we’re selling to a global audience. Viewers have become more sophisticated, they are not afraid of foreign languages,” said Rosen, who co-founded the Endeavor talent agency. Endeavor merged with William Morris in 2017, the largest talent agency merger in history. The agency represents top figures in Hollywood, such as Matt Damon, Adam Sandler, and Amy Poehler.
Rosen was at the Pollock Theater in conversation with UCSB Film and Media Studies chair Patrice Petro, as part of Carsey-Wolf’s “Global” screening series. “We no longer have the U.S. as a target market, we see the international market as a target,” Rosen said.
Scenes From A Marriage is about the crumbling marriage of Jonathan, a philosophy professor, and Mira, a tech executive. Rosen and Petro decided to screen the fourth episode of five, as they found it to be the most powerful, emotional, and climactic. The show touches on issues of infidelity, kids, and the pain that deep bonds can cause.
Israeli filmmaker Hagai Levi wrote, directed and executive produced the show as a modern adaptation of the original Swedish television series by legendary director Ingmar Bergman, which aired in 1973 and also came out as a film. Levi changed the role of the cheating spouse from Jonathan to Mira, one way that he took a new spin on the work. “The show puts a real examination of gender roles in the spotlight,” Rosen observed.
Actors Jessica Chastain, left, and Oscar Isaac as Mira and Jonathan in the five-part HBO mini-series Scenes from a Marriage. The Carsey-Wolf Center held a screening and discussion last week.
Television has evolved to become much more global in context and Scenes From A Marriage is at the forefront of this, the audience heard. In this case, Levi is an Israeli man directing a Scandinavian adaptation for American television. Rosen and Petro went on to say the diversity of screen media has led us to a golden age of television, which is only getting better.
Television executive Rick Rosen, right, and director of UCSB’s Carsey-Wolf Center Patrice Petro, discussed the English-language remake of the 1973 Swedish miniseries Scenes from a Marriage, at the Pollock Theater last week.
Alexa Sellung, who is majoring in Film and Media Studies, attended the event because of her interest in television. “Scenes From A Marriage was so much more emotional and powerful than I imagined it to be. The talk afterwards was also so eye-opening and interesting to think about this new age of global television,” she said.
Students in the Pollock Theater internship program assisted with the event by filming the live stream and helping audience members ask questions of the panelists. The internship allows students to gain real world experience in the production and media industry.
The Carsey-Wolf’s global series has more events planned for the rest of the year, such as a talk on the Korean hit show Squid Game on May 12th at 7 p.m. An episode will be screened, followed by a discussion with the show’s production designer Chae Kyoung-sun, UCSB Film and English faculty member Rita Raley, and a translator for Kyoung-sun.
Sophie Ludgin is a second year Communication major. She wrote this piece for her Writing Program course Digital Journalism.