"Taking the Flak"

noreply@blogger.com (Tira) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:42:00 +0000

Autumn has arrived in the UK after a lovely warm and bright September. Bright partly because the skies were clear and rain-free which we all love. But now hearing from friends in Tanzania who long for rain, moaning about the autumn showers which have started here is just not on.

Northern Tanzania and Kenya are tinder dry. Friends in Arusha are on constant fire watch and scan the sky for any cloud. The Maasi are watching their cattle suffer and sometimes die of thirst. Others are driving their livestock illegally into national parks like Tarangire in the hope of sharing the river with the wild game.

No rain in Africa means the price of food in the markets climbs every week. Most families simply have to buy less food and eat less food. When the rain does fall, everyone is smiling as the crops will grow and food prices go down...and meals can increase in size.

There are two rainy seasons in East Africa; the short rains in December and the long rains in March & April. But rainy seasons don't arrive like clockwork.

Appreciate our English rain in the meanwhile....

noreply@blogger.com (Tira) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:50:00 +0000

Taking the Flak has finished....well this series anyway...but Flak fans can get the DVD of the series which is chock full of extra features. There are seven extra short films showing various scenes "Behind the Flak" as well as some fun some outtakes and deleted scenes.

And a rather special title sequence that we didn't use in the end....
Our wonderful art department hired some delightful Tanzanian artists to paint portraits of our actors in various places in the city of Arusha. Margaret--played by Jo Brookes--could be seen on the back of a Dala Dala (a local bus) while David (Martin Jarvis) was painted on a wall near the market. Rory --Damian O' Hare--was on the corner of a busy intersection, with camera at the ready. Jane--Doon's character was above a shop on one of the busiest markets streets.

It was the last day of filming and we had the extraordinary sight of Kilimanjaro emerging from the clouds down the valley some 80 kms away. So we had Mt Meru above us and Kili looming in the distance--which you can see clearly in that opening sequence. After pulling our our personal cameras to record this amazing sight, we split the unit....Pete Rowe was filming two beautiful girls running from a man-eating lion (the opening of episode 4) while DC and Mark and I went off on our own to find the portaits and film the sequence. For DC and I, it was like being back to a news sized team and a lovely way to end the two month shoot amidst the bustle of the market, in real Africa.

Hope you enjoy watching it as much as we loved filming that afternoon.

noreply@blogger.com (Tira) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:42:00 +0000

Taking the Flak has been launched to the world...well at least the part of the world that can see BBC2 on Wednesday nights or the BBC IPlayer. Unfortunately this doesn't include our Kenyan & Tanzanian cast and crew who will have to wait until the release of the DVD in mid-August!

It has been great fun to hear from journalist colleagues who recognise the situation that Team Flak characters have found themselves in...from exploding dogs (yes it really did happen) to gifts of goats (yup, that as well).

We have a Taking the Flak fanpage on Facebook now. But the most up to date material--with the Behind-the-Flak extras and the Comedy Blog can be found by simply going to the BBC website (www.bbc.co.uk) and typing in Taking the Flak.

Karibu & Asanate!

noreply@blogger.com (Tira) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:06:00 +0000

BEHIND THE FLAK …..

The two large black spitting cobras were gingerly lifted from their enclosure and deposited very carefully in a secure container. Their handler wore fake designer sunglasses to protect his eyes from the cobras’ venomous spitting which generally precedes a much nastier and usually lethal bite. With the enclosure now snake-free, cameraman Pete Rowe manoeuvred into the empty cage to film a “snake eye’s view” of our actors. Welcome to the world of Taking the Flak, a comedy about journalists covering a war in a fictional African country.

The cobras proved to be more malleable animal actors than the twenty leopard tortoises we had filmed earlier. Or the featured goat that our art department bought to ensure “goat continuity” during our shoot. The goat—named TTF by his keeper-- never reciprocated the fondness shown to him by the cast and crew. In fact TTF even attempted escape during one night shoot. He recaptured by an impressive flying tackle from a security guard. And then there were the zebras….and the lion we never saw.

Shooting ‘Taking the Flak’ in the spectacular scenery of Tanzania, a country famed for wildlife created unusual challenges. John Wayne had filmed in the same location for a 1961 Hollywood spectacular “Hatari”—Swahili for “danger”. A story with more action than plot, “Hatari” also had their share of animal trouble when a rhino spectacularly gored an actor as they filmed a chase scene. The actor survived and the producers simply wrote the photogenic accident into the script.

Outside our historic hotel, where white hunters stayed in years past, a rampage of elephants had been staged for “Hatari”. And we heard firsthand tales of Wayne’s film. One woman remembered, “I delivered the costumes every morning and walked the leopard cub.” BBC Health & Safety guidelines nowadays discourage predators on set. Which is why we had an imaginary lion and stayed safely in vehicles even when filming zebras.

Writing and co-producing Taking the Flak with comedy producer Jon Rolph, we aimed to create a unique blend of humour and reality. Having covered a few real African wars, the art department would sometimes ask me questions like “does this look like a mortar?” as they welded fake-but-accurate looking weapons on a flat bed vehicle. Fortunately we never had to explain to the local police why our action vehicles driven by the “rebels” and “government forces” had military markings and carried (strictly fictional) firepower as we had been welcomed with open arms by Tanzania and the town of Arusha.

“Hollywood Comes to Arusha! Major War about to Break Out…BBC sends in Reporters to Cover Conflict—Not a Real War!” blazed the slightly inaccurate headline of the local newspaper, The Arusha Times. But sometimes it was difficult to separate fact and fiction. “There are Maasi warriors in the back in the shot”, shouted Jon Rolph from the monitors one day. And there were indeed Maasi in all of their finery looking casually noble as they watched the action, having wandered into shot. On other days, Maasi warriors along with many other locals played valued extras. Happily, our extras loved the comedy of “Flak” and appreciative applause would sometimes greet the actors after especially good takes.

The plotlines mirror themes from the world of television news covering exotic but misunderstand parts of the world. The fictional BBC news team has to struggle daily with London to justify their place on the nightly news bulletins. And they also have to struggle against the arbitrary nature of working in a part of Africa that is prone to unexpected challenges from roadblocks to rebels. As we filmed in our fictional world, we were keenly aware of developments in the real world from the U.S. presidential race to the economic crisis. New script lines would reflect changing events and players in the headlines. The comedy about current affairs must be current.

Hosting the locations for Taking the Flak was certainly a change from the tourism business that sustains Arusha, Tanzania, the jumping off point for the largest game parks in Africa. But the complex logistics that large productions require were never a problem. Safari operators who normally ran tented expeditions in the plains of the Serengeti or Ngorongoro Crater provided our catering and --on days when we were in wilder locations—provided tented “bush toilets.” Efficient and even atmospheric, these tented retreats are the one aspect of the shoot that the cast and crew won’t miss. Bush toilets aside, “Team Flak” never lost the joy of simply being in the most stunning landscape in Africa. Our backdrop everyday was majestic Mt Meru, an ancient volcano, while further down the Rift Valley on clear days, Kilimanjaro would float magically in the distance. We feel that some of this magic will be shared by viewers of Taking the Flak.

noreply@blogger.com (Tira) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:13:00 +0000

Creating a fictional civil war can be trickier than covering a real civil war. And I now have had experience doing both. The major factor in creating a fictional war for “Taking the Flak” is that Health & Safety is much more stringently observed. Hence filming in Kenya in January & February this year was ruled out. The tragic post-election violence in Kenya meant we had to postpone production.

A series of happy accidents, spurred by my years working and living in Tanzania, meant the new location of the fictional country of “Karibu”
moved to the Arusha area.
Tanzania Ahoy!

The environs of Arusha contain some of the most spectacular scenery on the African continent. Kilimanjaro beckons just down the road and in the other direction are the teeming game parks of Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater and the rolling plains of the Serengeti. And a mere hop, skip and jump to Zanzibar. No worries about how to spend the rare days off ...

In Africa the sky is bigger, the sun brighter and the horizon goes on forever. Everyone lost their heart to the sheer beauty of our surroundings and the Tanzanian welcome to the team. Our guardian spirit was Mount Meru; the dramatic volcano that looks down on Arusha. Meru would change character from morning mists to startling clarity in the late afternoon light. And we loved all its moods.

But the Arusha area offered much more; a welcoming, warm place full of talent and the dozens of locations that the seven-part series of Flak required. Being only a 5 hour drive from Nairobi, our Kenyan cast & crew had an easy commute. And there was local Tanzanian acting talent as well. Our Tanzanian crew was drawn from the safari industry. The men and women who organise luxury tented safaris, expeditions up Kilimanjaro and four-wheel drive vehicles through remote areas didn’t blink at the complex logistics and precise timing that a film crew requires. Which meant we had a very happy shoot.

more to follow....

noreply@blogger.com (Tira) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:53:00 +0000

Filming in Kenya for Taking the Flak to start in 2008