Producers: Steve Knapman and Kris Wyld

Steve Knapman

Steve is probably best known for THE LEAVING OF LIVERPOOL which was broadcast throughout Australia by the ABC in July 1992 to over 2.1 million viewers. It was the top rating Australian mini-series for 1992. BBC 1 broadcast the series in England in July 1993 to over 15 million viewers. ‘LIVERPOOL’ won two gold medals at the New York Festival, three TV Week Logie Awards, the Grand Award at the Umbriafiction TV Festival in Italy and two Australian Film Institute Awards. Amongst other shows, Steve produced the 60 hour television series, WILDSIDE, which received four TV Week Logie Awards, as well as an unprecedented seven AFI Awards.

After working together on WILDSIDE, Steve joined forces with Kris Wyld to create Knapman Wyld Television and produced the much loved crime series, WHITE COLLAR BLUE for Network Ten. They then moved on to EAST WEST 101, taking two years to develop scripts that were ready to shoot in 2007. Investment is from the Australian Film
Finance Corporation and the New South Wales Film & Television Office. The distributor is Minotaur International in London.

Knapman:
‘Since the 9/11 attacks and the London and Bali bombings, a climate of fear has pervaded western society. The media and politicians have exploited this fear to sell copy and win votes. There seems to be no difference between asylum seekers and terrorists, ethnic communities and gangs, policing and going to war. It is well-known animal  behaviour that when a community is exposed to a threat, the community unites.

The purpose of drama is to get us to empathise. It makes us put on someone else’s shoes and walk around in them for a while. In experiencing the world from a new perspective the viewer gains understanding and learns tolerance. By identifying emotionally with the suffering of others, we learn humility.

At the same time, it is a dramatic principle that when you portray a bad character, you look for the good in him. When you portray a good character, you seek the flaw. This is the balance and truth and complexity of the human condition that is fundamental to the humanitarian approach of the series.

The show is also a metaphor – for East and West, for the conscious and unconscious, for reconciliation and difference, for hope versus despair, as Malik struggles toward the  sunlight while Crowley descends into the abyss. The tragedy, that the only thing that separated them was their own inability to know themselves is a universal human truth that transcends the difference between Muslim and non-Muslim.

EAST WEST 101 is a crime show. But what makes it different is that it seeks to redress the imbalance that would have us deny our place as citizens of the world.’

Kris Wyld

Kris has been involved in the creation and script development of a number of award winning and ground breaking television drama series. Her creative partnership with Steve Knapman began on the ABC Drama Series WILDSIDE, where she worked with him as a Writer and Script Producer. Kris was nominated for an AFI ‘Best Screenplay’ for Episode 59 WILDSIDE which won the 1999 AFI Award for ‘Best Episode in a TV Series’.

The collaboration between Knapman and Wyld continued after the close of WILDSIDE. Together, they have created a number of projects, including WHITE COLLAR BLUE, EAST WEST 101 and several other film and television projects currently in development.

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

Wyld:
‘Part of the pleasure of creation is the research phase, when Steve and I work with researchers, consultants and writers to evolve characters and stories that start to have a life of their own.

EAST WEST 101 involved a two year gestation period and we were fortunate to have a team of writers, including Kristen Dunphy, Michael Miller, Michelle Offen, Kris Mrska, who were dedicated and enthusiastic about the concept and prepared to sweat blood to achieve the layering of story telling we were after.

Steve and I treasure our relationship with the consultant detectives who brought their own insights, reality and humour into the process. In EAST WEST 101, we were lucky
to work with Hany Elbatoory, who, as well as bringing his own unique vision as a detective and a Muslim, is also a highly creative man.

Our objective in making EAST WEST 101 was to explore the post 9/11 world through the eyes of a Muslim detective who feels tugs from both the East and the West and who struggles to find the truth, both in his work and in his life. It’s been refreshing to work with SBS who have encouraged us to take risks and push boundaries. SBS are very explorative in their approach to both drama and documentary. They gave us a chance to explore contemporary issues and conflicts in a fearless way.’