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Daniel Jones, senior editor of The New York Times’ Modern Love column, remembered 12 years ago when all he had to do was pick from a pile of nearly 1,000 articles posted a month and edit them for a series of essays. I remember “I was a little lonely,” he said.
He has a lot of company this week. He is in Japan to attend the premiere of the TV series.modern love tokyo‘ is the latest installment in Amazon’s global ‘Modern Love’ franchise. The seven-episode show will begin streaming on Amazon Prime Video on October 21. The episodes will be set in Tokyo and will feature the work of Japanese actors, directors and creative teams, based on essays published in the column. It has been reimagined to be more approachable to Japanese audiences. (One of the episodes will be animated in the first installment of “Modern Love.”)
“I love that the process includes all the other talented people who are interpreting the story, amplifying the emotion, and putting the music in,” Jones said in an interview last week. It just exploded the work into a whole new realm.”
Since the original “Modern Love” show was released on Amazon in October 2019, three international spin-offs have debuted in three languages. “Modern Love Hyderabad” in Telugu. and Tokyo series, in Japanese. The 4th series ‘Modern Love Chennai’ in Tamil is coming out soon and the 5th series ‘Modern Love Amsterdam’ which is offered in Dutch is due for his mid-December release.
Jones reflected on the international expansion of television franchises, the process of adapting American stories for each series, and the longevity of the Modern Love column. Read the edited interview below.
When did the idea of creating an international version of the show come about?
The original series, set in New York City, was released in 2019, and soon after, we started talking about the possibility of producing versions of it in other cities around the world. Of course, then the pandemic came and made everything difficult and delayed a bit. And the international version that we started talking about years ago is coming out just now.
What is your role in the series?
I am the co-producer of all overseas versions. The episode being edited is displayed. I read the script. I try to maintain a sense of what modern love is and has been for over 18 years. No overt sex or Bollywood intrigue or anything that pushes boundaries to make it seem like it’s outside of what a column does. doing. In fact, that’s what they value most in these series and what makes their work stand out in these markets.
Also, Modern Love has a huge archive, with about 900 essays at the moment. Show creators often stick to the plot, so they want a particular kind of story If so, I can help them. I know archives better than anyone. However, I was impressed with the local team’s approach, research and passion for this project.
How does the process of adapting American stories for audiences in different countries work?
In one of the Mumbai episodes, Mumbai’s creative team created an essay about a woman living in Brooklyn, separated from her husband, who is depressed in every way. And now she had to bike to work.
She started across the Manhattan Bridge but didn’t have the stamina to finish it. So her story was about empowering her physically and emotionally to put herself back together. It was a very New York story, but when they brought it to Mumbai, they made her character a domestic servant of a wealthy family, highlighting the class divide there. , leading from the gritty area to the glittering city center. You can get divorced in Mumbai, you can get divorced in Brooklyn. Emotions and struggles and everything is so similar.
All versions of the show can be streamed on Amazon Prime in the US, right?
yes. Now with the success of series like Ikasama, it has become clear that subtitles are not a barrier. Be sure to check out versions set in other cities as well.
What was the most exciting part of making the overseas version?
When these teams discovered stories I had long forgotten in my archives and reintroduced me in new ways. It would be great to see how they can be reimagined for screen.
What’s next for the ‘Modern Love’ TV franchise?
Our fifth international series, Modern Love Amsterdam, will premiere in mid-December. After that, stay tuned. We have global ambitions.