Erstellt am: 25. 9. 2015 - 20:10 Uhr

Quit your well-paid job and go to Kabul

.....making soapies in Kabul. Reality Check meets Trudi-Ann Tierney.

Reality Check Special: Making Soapies in Kabul

Crazy people living crazy lives, trying to survive against the backdrop of war. The world of TV soap opera production in Afghanistan.

Trudi-Ann Tierney, Making Soapies in Kabul, as heard on a Reality Check Special, on Saturday 26th September.

Sometimes you come across the most interesting people around the world who did something on a whim. And that impulse decision not only changed their lives but ended up helping others. Trudi-Ann Tierney gave me an insight into everyday life in Afghanistan that took me away from the image that many of us have of men with guns and women wearing blue burqas. But the story of her journey to Kabul begins in Australia.

Australia produces some of the world’s most widely distributed soap operas. Many Australian actors have become Hollywood household names and some of them, like Guy Peace (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) and Russell Crowe (Les Miserables) are former TV soap opera stars from Down Under. And the people working behind the scenes in Australian soaps have created a genre that is big export business across the global TV industry.

Trudi-Ann Tierney had been working in Australian TV in the drama & soap opera world and she was no stranger to getting TV projects off the ground, surrounded by everyday teams of camera people, writers and actors. But having done this for a number of years and whilst waiting for new projects to get off the ground, she was also becoming intrigued by the notion of a possible change-in-life experience. A friend who was working in Kabul suggested coming over for a couple of months to help write a drama series that was behind schedule. She travelled to Afghanistan and worked as the manager of a bar before immersing herself in the world of Afghan television drama.

One script-writing job led to a contract in Jalalabad overseeing the production of another show. After that, she was offered a job back in Kabul as the head of drama at Afghanistan's biggest TV broadcaster, Moby Media Group. There she was responsible for quite a number of drama serials, including the country's most popular soap Raaz Hai Een Khana, or "The Secrets of This House". I asked her about the significance of this kind of work in a place like Afghanistan, with all of the everyday challenges for Afghan people.

It’s incredibly important. At the time I was there, it was something like 78% of people were illiterate. Television is a very forceful medium, in terms of just reaching audiences. And I found that with drama serials, they were very successful in getting positive or aspirational messaging across because people actually become very attached to the characters. They become vested in what’s happening to them and vested in their outcomes and (there’s) a storyline to follow. And because they have a personal investment in a character, I think the messaging is much more effective.

Trudi-Ann Tierney, has also written a book about her experiences and you can check it out here:- Making Soapies in Kabul