Exporting Raymond

The Sydney Film Festival is a good place to see documentaries that may not get a cinema release. Last year writer/producer Phil Rosenthal, the creator of the TV series 'Everybody Loves Raymond', traveled to Russia to supervise a Russian version of the TV series.

In 2004 on a trip to the USA I had the privilege of going to a taping of an episode of 'Everybody Loves Raymond'. The show was so cleverly written, performed and is hilarious as well. It is one of those TV series that wonderfully captures the everyday nature of a family and accentuates some moments for hilarious results. The situations Raymond and his family got into were very relatable. I think it was with this thought in mind of his show's family situation being relatable universally that Phil thought it would translate to all audiences. After watching this documentary I'm not sure that is true. Phil was continually slamming his head up against a wall as he tried to make the Russians understand what made his show so good. I began to wonder if the Russians had actually seen the original show they were making because none of the people Phil worked with seemed to understand what they were adapting. It is not a simple matter of translating a script and filming it. There were many changes that the Russians wanted to make to the show that made you wonder why they wanted to make it in the first place. The costume designer they hired was more interested in making the cast look glamorous and not ordinary as the show requires. She could not understand why Phil would want to dress his cast that way when dressing ordinary was what the show was meant to portray. The fact that their head writer was unmarried also added to the problems. But in saying that it is these situations that make the film funny. While I admit that the Russians may not like how they are portrayed, in the Q & A afterwards Phil said he just filmed it how it was. It must also be said that Phil does go to a lot of trouble to understand where his team are coming from and try to work on an amicable solution.

Definitely a film for fans of 'Everybody Loves Raymond' and writers looking to adapt their TV series into a foreign language. Despite the world getting smaller there are still numerous cultural differences.