You know what we don’t get enough of in Middle East programming? Comedy. With the domination of drama and oh-so-overdone tragedy during Ramadan, fans of lighthearted viewing will be happy to know that a Dubai-based comedy series dubbed DCity! has begun shooting its pilot episode in the UAE. On Tuesday, tabloid! was there to witness the magic.
“We’re filming it like an official pilot, but it’s a backdoor pilot,” explained Naim Zaboura, writer, director and executive producer behind the project. In layman’s terms, a backdoor pilot can be viewed as both an introduction to a series and a standalone work. “We’re going to put it online and see the reaction, the audience reaction, and generate sponsorship.”
Tentatively, the series will launch online on dcitytv.com before Eid. The 25-minute episodes will chronicle the lives of three women who form a friendship and experience all different facets of the city.
Executive producer and actress Laura Quirke called it a “passion project”. Fellow executive producer and actress Mylene Gomera called it “the first of its kind” seeing as it’s in English, allowing people outside the region to connect with the content, too.
Gomera was the centre of attention at the Iris rooftop lounge on Tuesday afternoon as she struggled to survive an onscreen date gone wrong. Her overzealous romantic companion? A character played by television host and actor Layne Redman, who has little concept of personal space.
Zaboura said that, although the pilot episode will launch online launch initially, the show will have the capacity to be picked up by a television network.
“We’re doing it Netflix style,” he said. “It’s a web series, but it’s catered for TV, as well.”
