Family
Business - interview with writer, Tony Grounds
Inspiration
for original writing comes from many different sources. In the case
of Tony Grounds, the script for his original six-part 大象传媒 drama
Family Business owes much to the builders who did up his house a
few years ago.
"I
had to get my house done up and I wondered about the significant
reasons why people do that. Has someone died? Are they expecting
a baby and need more space? Are they having a home refurbished to
sell? And I thought that some builders must be privy to seeing families
in quite heightened states.
"I
had builders in for months and months and they got to know our kids,
our likes or dislikes and you end up sharing information and details
with them. They did become a part of our lives for quite some time,"
he says.
"It's
a strange sort of co-existence, and everyone gets close to their
builders聟 it's almost like making a film; it's so intimate
for so long."
It's
not surprising that this osmosis between builder and client offers
a new take on the traditional family drama. Each week, the problems
Marky sees happening in his clients' families juxtapose and shed
new light on his own domestic situation.
But
while Marky may find refuge in helping his clients solve their issues,
he's blinded by the needs of his own family.
In
episode one, just as Marky begins to worry about his own son's disappearance,
he embarks on a job that involves filling in a swimming pool for
a young couple whose son is critically ill after falling in the
pool.
"I've
heard of lots of people who have a fear of losing their child in
a swimming pool and as a result of this fear have had them filled
in, which was the inspiration for episode one's particular storyline,"
says Grounds.
In
episode two, Marky becomes involved with an elderly man whose greedy
son is trying to put him in a home in order to profit from the sale
of his house.
The
old gentleman is a former West Ham footballer, and West Ham fans
Marky and daughter Lauren can't bear to see his life being thrown
away so easily.
The
latter resonates particularly with Tony Grounds, who is a West Ham
season ticket holder of 40 years. He is particularly fond of the
team, but believes that modern football has lost its community spirit
in favour of commercialism.
"Nowadays
footballers are not held in great esteem聟 they earn big money,
run around leading fast lifestyles yet aren't looked upon as heroes,"
he says.
"You
only have to look at the old West Ham programmes going back 20 odd
years to see that the team are all local boys, all born in East
London and football was very much a community based sport - that
has pretty much gone now."
Family
Business is based outside London, in Hertfordshire, where Tony Grounds
himself lives.
"I
like writing about Hertfordshire, not just because I live there
and its familiar territory but because I like writing about those
areas on the periphery of London - they are full of real people."
But
despite some similarities with his main character - like Marky,
he was born in the East End, moved to Essex and then ended up in
Hertfordshire - Grounds is keen to suggest that Family Business
is not about his life.
"It's
not autobiographical, apart from the fact that there are bits of
all of them in me. Marky is the over-bearing father, but actually
wants everything to be perfect. I think that is true of all of us."
Like
Marky, Tony Grounds wants the best for his children.
"I
never ran away from home, but I have a desperate fear that my son
will run away. I want him to have a happy life and grow up well,
and I see that as a father's duty.
"I
guess there is a lot of Marky in that - he wants to do everything
right, and of course his fear of making sure he does it right invariably
means he does it wrong."
Tony
Grounds has also drawn on his own mother's adoption to add yet another
reason for Marky's desire for the perfect family.
"He's
always striving for perfection and being an adopted child means
it is all the more important to him to belong. He's just desperate
to be part of an idealistic, perfect world."
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