The self-mockery is a relief in the new comedy series cast. A large Dutch casting agency is ‘cancelled’ after its boss (Gijs Scholten van Aschat) ended up in the eye of a #MeToo storm. His companions Mike (Michiel Nooter) and Helen (Jacqueline Blom) have to pull out all the stops to make a new start and win back both customers and actors.
“We wanted to make a satire that especially denounces this time,” says Ilse Warringa, one of the two screenwriters and directors. “Society is extremely polarized: the old and the new generation both put their heels in the sand and clash over absolutely everything. The jokes mainly stem from that behavior, not so much from the ideas themselves.” The makers themselves say that they do not want to take a position in the discussion, but leave it in cast especially seeing how those confrontations never lead to meaningful solutions. “People seem to just want to divide the world into rascals and assholes. That is never the case, it is always more nuanced.”
Warringa and Niek Barendsen chose the acting world as their arena because they know it well, but also because all the tricky subjects come up in this playing field. “Inclusivity, cancelling, sexual misconduct. But of course they are topics that lead to these kinds of discussions and situations throughout society.”
Barendsen knocked on the door of NTR in 2019, who immediately warmed up to the project: “I have walked around at various casting agencies since the Academy for Kleinkunst and have always been amazed because of the people who pass by and the conversations that are being held.” Soon the idea arose to make the series together with Warringa. “We have already made a lot of theater performances together,” says Barendsen. “And we switch very quickly. If I sent a new version to Ilse at two o’clock at night, I had a response from her an hour later.”
Intuitive process
In the genre of satire, both successful (Promenade) as less successful (Five Live) examples reviewed. Both writers find the question of what makes good satire difficult to answer. “In my case, it’s about the way I look at the world,” Barendsen thinks. “I look at everything that irritates me with a satirical look and then laugh about it. For example, I have to laugh very hard at people who always think they are right on their side. You will never get any further with such a rigid attitude.”
Warringa calls finding the right tone “a very intuitive process. Dozens of script drafts pass by before we’re satisfied, debating every comma or question mark. But the basis for me is that I think from the characters.” She cites as an example ‘millennial’ Kiki (Claire Bender), the intimacy coordinator that the casting agency has to appoint. “Once I get into her head, the vicious dialogues come naturally. A character can put much more extreme sentences in your mouth than you can.”
Over the course of the eight episodes cast slowly more drama than satire. “For me, making a long drama series is a new form of storytelling,” says Barendsen. “But we wanted the characters to develop. That is also necessary for a series: we do want to show that the different camps can grow towards each other if they put in a little effort.” Warringa agrees: “It should not become an activist pamphlet.”
Enlarged celebrities
It is striking that a large number of Dutch celebrities play enlarged versions of themselves in the series: from Karin Bloemen to Birgit Schuurman, from Leo Alkemade to Willeke van Ammelrooy. “Celebrities come over the floor all day long in a casting agency,” says Warringa. “So we thought it would be fun and logical that those famous people would parody themselves. It is fun for the viewer and also very nice for us to be able to put very crazy things in the mouth of those people. It would not have worked if very well-known heads would have played well-conceived celebrities.”
The well-known colleagues also reflect on their own past. For example, Ferry Doedens refers to his experiences with porn site OnlyFans and Imanuelle Grives discusses her arrest for drug trafficking at a Belgian festival. Elise Schaap winks at her past full of generic romantic comedies. “There were also people who did not dare, or who did not think it was appropriate for themselves to participate,” confirms Warringa. “And that’s totally fine too. Although we sometimes had to rewrite scenes because of that. And have to throw away a few good jokes.”
Cast, every Thursday on NPO3. And in its entirety on NPO Start.