EAST WEST 101 - the creative process (part 2)

In Season Two, Steve and I spent months and months trying to find a series narrative that would top the first season. We had talked with the detectives, and got a number of possible scenarios; the researcher, Mandy McCarthy had also given mountains of material. But we still didn’t have a drive that made us feel this would be a powerful drama.

One day, six months in, we decided to call SBS and tell them that there wouldn’t be a series 2. Once we decided that, a minute later, ideas started flowing. So we never did make that call.

We felt that as we had dealt with Detective Malik’s family in the first season, we should take a look at Wright’s in Season 2. So you get to see her brother and father and find out a bit more of who she is.

We explored how she had been shaped by the early death of her mother, and how her brother had been shaped very differently from the same event. We gave her a dilemma. Her brother was fleeing violent criminals who wanted to kill him. Part of the second season is driven by Wright’s question. ‘Will she be able to save her brother?’


A mini series is different from a series, in that you need strong personal drives to push it forward. We have self contained crime stories each week, but we need a story arc that begins in the first episode and finishes at the end of the last.

So, with Wright, we had solved the problem of creating a personal drive for Season 2, but we still had to create a quest. And that quest needed to be Malik’s, since he is the hero. Malik is an Australian, his parents are also Australian, but originally they came from Iraq. He is a Muslim, and that sometimes brings him into conflict with other characters.

The show’s inner tension comes from the title – East West – and indirectly explores the conflicts going on right now between the Middle East and the West.

We wanted to examine some of the events that happened around the time of the Tampa crisis when Middle eastern refugees were fleeing zones of conflict.

Because of 9/11 people in Australia became fearful of refugees. We wanted to explore the needs and fears of two opposing parties. So we created a murder, the murder of an NSO agent, (NSO is a fictitious force called National Security Organisation) which was somehow connected to immigration, and a secret.

Malik becomes obsessed with finding out the truth. There are seven episodes in the second Season and every week, Malik gets just a bit closer to the truth. But of course, we needed to give the character a situation where he had to make moral choices of his own. So we created an attraction between Agent Angleton’s widow, Sophia, and Malik. Watch it to see how it turns out.

Steve and I both feel that if you are going to make drama, it should be good, and it should reveal something about the human condition. In some way, it should enhance the viewers understanding of humanity. Crime stories always deal with the dark end of emotions, but we try to let the characters experience lightness and joy as well.

Season 1 commenced on SBS Tuesday August 18 at 8.30pm. NEW Season 2 follows immediately and PREMIERES September 29 at 8.30pm.

Further information on Knapman Wyld Television can be found at www.knapmanwyld.com.au