‘A Friend of the Family’ team on creating a safe environment on set and the importance of telling tough stories – Rivals TV

A family friend Creator showrunner Nick Antosca, starring Lio Tipton and Colin Hanks, and activist and producer Jan Broberg, on whose life the series is based, joined Deadlines Contenders Television to raise awareness of sexual abuse.

The true crime drama series Peacock is about Robert Berchtold (Jake Lacy), a serial child kidnapper. After becoming close friends with the Broberg family, Berchtold kidnapped their daughter Jan (played by Mckenna Grace and Hendrix Yancey) twice within two years. Other main actors are Anna Paquin, Austin Stowell and Patrick Fischler.

During the panel, Broberg, whose poignant life experience has been told numerous times in books and documentaries, made an impassioned statement about the importance of the ongoing series. “I’ve been telling my story for 30 years, never on purpose, I never thought it would happen, but just because I knew that by telling our stories, maybe we could help future children not go through this,” she said.

Broberg went on to state the amazing statistic that 1 in 4 people are sexually abused before they reach adulthood. Tipton, who plays Robert’s wife Gail Berchtold, testified that her own experience of sexual assault fueled her desire to play the complicated role.

“Read [the script] and to be able to deal with it so personally, to then step back and really have my own experiences and learn from this material that I have in front of me and somebody’s own personal experience in such an intimate way, it’s pathetic, but man don’t get many chances [to depict a story] so, they said.

Broberg said she appreciates the hard work and intricate details that went into bringing her unconventional story to life from the cast and crew. In fact, she praised the show’s concern not to graphically depict the horrific acts themselves, but instead to show how widespread this problem is.

“[The story] it was told in a way that was not only accurate, but in a way that you didn’t have to see the actual child abuse because you had to relate to the story, and it hit the spot for me. Broberg said. “So if viewers can speak up and say, ‘Oh, I see. [Is that] How am I cared for? Wait, the guy I’m dating, is he after my 9 year old? If you can get started with that, we’ve created something that really matters. I tell my story to protect other children from monsters who look like someone’s father, best friend, priest, teacher or athletic trainer. I tell the story for all the millions of people who are affected by this story.”

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