The producers of ‘Marseille’ and ‘Cable Girls’ said they are very sensitive to reaction while trying to show real-life harassment and discrimination.
Social media scolding is influencing international TV, particularly in the realm of women’s issues in the #MeToo era, producers said Wednesday at a panel on women in television at MIPTV in Cannes.
Both Federation Entertainment’s Pascal Breton, producer of Netflix’s first French original Marseille, and Bambou Productions’ Theresa Fernandez-Valdes, producer of Netflix’s first Spanish original Cable Girls, said they are aware of the streaming giant’s sensibilities.
If that sounds like self-censorship, it is a bit, as well as an effort to reach millennials who have more modern and politically correct attitudes, which they are quick to share and shame on social media. Look no further than the recent Twitter trend of critiquing old episodes of Friends, which are now considered insensitive to a variety of identities.
Channels are looking to connect with these younger viewers and move away from the violent police dramas and procedurals that tend to portray women as victims, said Fernandez-Valdes.
One example of this kind of treatment was Breton’s Marseille. The gritty political drama starring Gerard Depardieu was criticized for its often aggressive treatment of women. The panelists agreed that it can be a Catch-22 to depict sexual harassment and dismissive or aggressive behavior towards women that reflects the often problematic real world without appearing to endorse it.
“I wanted to be close to reality, and the reality is…
