Posted in: Netflix, TV | Tagged: euphoria

Bad Boy Creator on How Series Was Original Concept for "Euphoria"

Ron Leshem (No Man's Land) discusses how Netflix's 'Bad Boy' was the original concept for 'Euphoria' before things creatively evolved.

When writer Ron Leshem looks back on how far along in his success, it always traces back to his roots trying to develop Euphoria. Not only was his original pitch rejected by most major networks at the time, but he also had to redevelop it into the HBO series it's become today, which is different from the original Israeli counterpart thanks to showrunner Sam Levinson. Just because he had to go back to the drawing board for what it became doesn't mean he couldn't repurpose his original concept, which became Netflix's Bad Boy. Rather than focusing on a troubled youth addict in Rue Bennett (Zendaya), Bad Boy, a coming-of-age drama he co-created with Hagar Ben-Asher, follows Dean (Guy Menaster), a young teen who finds himself in juvenile prison, who bonds with Zoro (Havtamo Freda), considered dangerous and psychotic by his fellow inmates, but becomes Dean's soulmate. Leshem spoke to Bleeding Cool about developing the Israeli series, if its success would warrant a separate American adaptation, and how he wanted Bad Boy to be far more than just "Oz with Kids," referencing the original Tom Fontana HBO 90s-2000s graphic prison drama.

Bad Boy Creator Ron Leshem on How Netflix Series Was Repurposed from Original Concept of 'Euphoria'

Bleeding Cool: You have other projects with 'No Man's Land' on Hulu. Americans got to see your original Israeli series 'Bad Boy' on Netflix. How do you feel about the possibilities of streaming platforms provide? If there's a demand for a separate American adaptation, does this streamline that process?

We launched 'Bad Boy' now, and it got to a point where in 47 territories, it was on the top 10 list. This is something we've never had a chance to explore. The ability to get into 191 territories and launch on the same weekend was insane. In several of these stories, the tape is all that matters. You might get attention worldwide, you might not. Sometimes in projects, and I'll use 'Bad Boy' as an example, where you launch the Israeli version, and then you're going to enjoy a timely and relevant American or French version, because there's a lot to say on the various socioeconomic conflicts at the local level.

At the same time, we're living in an era where Hollywood in many ways is not taking risks as it used to and it's very fearful for so many reasons, not just the very financial crisis that brought us down from Hollywood creating 650 shows per year down to creating 400, but the fear of headache and poison in social media and TikTok. It makes everyone not take risks and become very conservative about anything in Hollywood.

It opens the door for indie and international bold creations that could never have been made in the Hollywood system. American audiences are open to watching foreign shows, and are even enthusiastic about it, because it gives them the ability to journey to places they've never been before. As a writer, that was one of the things I love about our profession more than anything else. The fact that I'm one day in China and Korea, and the next, in Dubai, right? We're trying to bring this to the American audience as well. The American audience has such a wide platform and opportunities to watch, so it's hard to grab their attention.

Regarding 'Bad Boy,' how do you balance between the hope and levity parts versus the cathartic nature of the show?

It's interesting because when I conceived the show, I was a 20-year-old journalist, and I locked myself in a juvenile prison for two weeks. I knew I wanted to write this as fiction, and I fell in love with the setup. Then, when I first pitched 'Euphoria,' this was the original concept. It was the voice of a 17-year-old inmate in a prison with kids, 12 to 18, and life outside. Everything we see is a plot line outside, which is a past timeline and memories.

'Euphoria' started with this, so I was dreaming of creating something, and I knew it will be emotional realism, 'Trainspotting' (1996), gasping, and everything I said but executives told me, "The audience was not ready to see kids in prison, it's too intense, and too early." We took 'Euphoria' in a different direction, and then, I was still dreaming of creating this juvie prison, and one of the most powerful executives, who is a drama executive in Hollywood, told me, "She heard my idea, and she said, 'Now is the time. Let's do 'Oz' with kids."

I went back home and realized I can't live in a world that is 'Oz' with Kids. I don't want to be in this. I don't want to write 'Oz' with kids, so I knew we needed something that would be a complete reinvention of a cross-genre or something. My one of my producer partners in Israel told me, "Do you know that when you were in jail," and she didn't know that I'm looking for a cross-genres after a new invention, but she said, "Do you that a guy who was a 12-year-old-kid when you went to jail as a journalist, is now this famous standup comedian?"

At that point, I immediately realized this is the way to attack the story through the soul of a comedian, who grows up to be one in jail. 'Bad Boy' turned out to be a story about a 13-year-old boy who is sent to prison because his mother called the police on him, and she couldn't handle his ADHD. He finds himself sharing a cell with a boy who is his age, but everyone warns him is a psycho killer. The entire prison pressures him to kill this boy, but instead, he falls in love and becomes his soulmate. You have the layer of how the sense of humor in the drama class becomes his survival tool in prison, and he becomes a comedian in jail. You also know from the first moment of the show that 20 years later, he's a successful comedian, and in the past, he has been hiding, and now the past comes back to haunt him. It's the two layers that work together, and it's an unreliable narrator, so you can do anything with him. It's fun.

Bad Boy, which also stars Daniel Chen, Neta Plotnik, Liraz Chamami, Bat-Chen Sabag, Yaniv Levi, Ben Sultan, Ishay Lalosh, and Amjad Shawa, is available on Netflix.

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