"Dom" Russian Dramatic TV Serial,
First 10 Episodes
"Dom" was to be a series of 40 fifty-minute dramatic programs (tele-roman or television novel) in which various economic topics
would be embedded including defense industry conversion; privatization of real estate; startup of new enterprises; the workings of markets for goods, labor, capital, and foreign exchange; and fighting the Mafia. The characters
were all drawn from well-known Russian classic novels and short stories. In the
end 10 episodes were produced and transmitted over NTV, Russia's premier private
television broadcaster in December 1995.
Initiated with project preparation funds from the World Bank's Russia Management and Financial Training Project, "Dom"
was produced by some of Russia's leading scriptwriters, producers, directors, and cinematographers. "Dom" is more than a Russian soap opera. "Dom" is great entertainment, and quality television which may well be exportable beyond the Russian-speaking world of the former Soviet Union.
But more than this, "Dom" seeks to educate Russians about the workings of the market economy, build hope in the country's renaissance as a market democracy, encourage privatization and the establishment of legitimate business enterprises, and fight the criminal structures which have become an international as well as a Russian menace.
The project has been endorsed by a number of Russia's leading economists, including Economy Minister and Member of the Board of the National Training Foundation, Yvgeny Yasin; Deputy Economy Minister and Chairman of the Board of the National Training Foundation, Sergey Vasiliev; and Chairman of the State Duma's Economic Committee, Sergey
Glasiev (these were the positions these people held in 1995).
Funding from a Japanese project preparation grant to the World Bank paid for the preparation and translation into English of a synopsis of the entire series, and the writing of the first three scripts by a team of scriptwriters headed by an internationally famous Russian scriptwriter, Alexander Adabashian, contracted by the Russian television production company Message
Agency, led by Matvey Saprykin, Producer of the series.
Additional grant funding was provided by the World Bank's Electronic Media
Center (EMC) led by Peter Knight, the Eurasia Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Contacts with potential co-producers (the Mexican company Televisa, and the BBC), a number of bilateral and private foundations, and with leading Russian television broadcasters were made with direct EMC support. EMC also obtained help in incorporating more economic concepts into the scripts from Paul Solmon (WGBH, Boston) and Nicole Reindorf (WGBH, Boston).
The Russian private television broadcasting company NTV (Independent Television) contributed significant financial resources toward production costs in return for premier broadcast rights, and in-kind contributions
were received from a variety of Russian and foreign firms. The Government of Moscow also invested in "Dom", donating a top-of-the-line new Betacam SP television camera.
Production of the series began April 1, 1995. In March 1995 the "Dom" project was the subject of two important favorable articles in major Moscow newspapers and there has been
more Russian media coverage.
Scripts for the first 16 episodes have been completed, well-known Russian actors hired, sets constructed in Gorki Film Studios, and filming of the first ten episodes was concluded on September 14.
The premiere broadcast in Russia of the first ten episodes by NTV began on December 4 and continued through December 15, 1995, in one-hour prime time slots beginning 10:40 PM immediately after its popular evening news program, "Sgodnia" ("Today"). Each episode is approximately 50 minutes long, leaving time for commercials or public service announcements. A one-hour program about "Dom" was broadcast on MTK (Channel 3, Moscow Government Channel) at 8:00 PM prior to the last broadcast.
Credits to all the major sources of finance, including international sources (the Eurasia Foundation, the World Bank, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York) are provided at the end of each episode along with the Russian sources.
VHS copies of the first ten episodes have been received by EMC, and the quality is excellent. PAL and NTSC copies can be made available for review.
The Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission expressed interest in supporting the second ten episodes, which will include messages on health and environmental issues. EMC has financed the work of an advisory committee of Russian environmental experts and the writing of three of these scripts.
For more information, please contact Peter Knight at the Electronic Media Center or Matvey Saprykin, President, Message Agency, in Moscow, Tel: (7-095) 181-2514.
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