Eagles Angels News
Wendy Harmer's big TV double
| 8/9/2009 | By Mary Finkelsen - Eagles Angels Manager |
Michael Bodey | September 07, 2009
Article from: The AustralianIN a neat piece of programming synchronicity, Pearlie, the animated children's comedy TV series based on Wendy Harmer's books, will debut on Ten in the same week Harmer joins Celebrity MasterChef.
But Harmer knows enough about television to realise it happened by default rather than design.
Pearlie has been five years in the making and has been kept largely under wraps for a $10million co-production between Australia and Canada.
In contrast, very little about MasterChef has been kept quiet in its short life.
"It's one of those funny things -- kids' TV pretty much flies under the radar a lot," Harmer says.
Pearlie the TV series has been a major undertaking for the stand-up comedian, TV host and broadcaster. She spent 18 months adapting half of the 26 episodes (the other half being written by a Canadian writer) from her popular 10-book series for children and is the program's creative producer.
That role is particularly significant in a series that is stridently southern hemisphere, despite the adoption of Canadian accents for most characters.
The Pearlie the Park Fairy series of contemporary urban-themed books has sold half a million copies worldwide, in eight languages, most recently Indonesian Bahasa.
Harmer wanted the books to follow southern hemisphere seasons, which has helped them become big sellers in South Africa and South America, particularly Brazil.
For instance, in one book, a fierce tropical storm precedes Christmas. Harmer even stipulated when selling the book to Canada that the narratives don't allow it to snow at Christmas.
And the Canadian producers at animation powerhouse Nelvana have embraced it, with one script coming back to Harmer with Opal the Aboriginal fairy exclaiming, "Geez, I'm knackered"!
"I had to tell them that's probably not what a fairy would say," Harmer says.
Known to many as a broadcaster and TV host, writing was always Harmer's first love; she wrote her first short story when she was eight and later became a newspaper journalist at The Geelong Advertiser.
She is currently writing her fourth adult novel and her first young adult novel, I Lost My Mobile at the Mall, will be out this year.
"I'm quietly beavering away and have sold 600,000 books!" she says. "It's kind of funny because people see me and say, what do you do now?
"I wrote the first adult book after being booted out of vega (Harmer was one of the first big-name signings to DMG Radio's baby boomer start-up radio station). And I was very lucky because I finally had the time and money and space to do what I wanted to do.
"My fear is that one day someone would say, 'We don't want another book'."
Harmer's profile as an author will soar during her Celebrity Masterchef stint.
She will join Queensland premier Anna Bligh, George Negus, Alex Perry, Peter FitzSimons and others on FremantleMedia's hit franchise.
"I've tried to live and breathe cookery for a month and half and I don't think it's going to make any difference whatsoever," she says.
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