Old Enough to Know Better
Old Enough to Know Better
Each episode follows one pairing over the course of two months. We see them meet for the first time at the older hero’s home, then explore the challenges they face everyday in an initial master interview. We return fortnightly to check on their progress and watch them prepare for a public display of the newbie's new hobby, which serves as the culminating event.
As the older hero coaches the younger newbie towards this big event, both get an insight into a life far removed from their own. We see an unlikely friendship emerge, breaking down prejudices and perceptions each generation has for the other and bridging the generational divide.
Each episode ends with a review of how they have changed over that time, in themselves and their perceptions. We hope to find their loneliness alleviated and hope restored. Ultimately, the show challenges ideas that the generational divide is insurmountable. But does so in a fun, accessible and heartwarming way.
Characters will be paired on a theme, exploring six key issues causing generational tension: racism, gender and sexuality, money and housing affordability, frailty and senility, work ethic and "toughness."
Casting will pair people with contrasting cultures, identities and socioeconomic backgrounds, with the goal of finding similarity in difference.
The aim is not to generate conflict, but to encourage unexpected, 'odd couple' friendships that audiences will love, and love to share.
Dirt-Bike Racing (money and housing affordability)
Dick Yeats: 77-year-old widower, retired mechanic and mining boss
Alzbeta: 30-year-old, single woman from Czech Republic
Roller-Skating (frailty and senility)
Winnie Harwood: 82-year-old widow, retired librarian from Manchester
Joseph: 26-year-old bricklayer with a high-school education
Carriage Driving (gender and sexuality)
Sue Tighe: 78-year-old widow, fourth-generation farmer
Jax: 34-year-old non-binary PhD candidate
This is a highly returnable and repeatable format, with the potential for replication across regions.
A strong impact campaign can accompany the series, highlighting and addressing some of the key issues in ageing, and the loneliness epidemic.
Millenials are a generation whose global connectivity and access to information is matched only by their lack of family connection and access to community.
More than 50% of Millenials report daily loneliness.
At the same time, older Australians are becoming more and more isolated, with intergenerational tensions inflamed by traditional media and quippy memes. It's become increasingly difficult for Baby Boomers and Millenials to humanise, empathise or identify with each other.
Old Enough To Know Better draws people in with the hook of extreme grannies and generational drama, then picks apart our perceptions, to celebrate friendship across generations and social divides.
Multiplatform:
6 x 30 self-contained episodic format for broadcast
Specialist online/social content
Baby Boomers 1 (68–77)
Millennials (26–41)
Primarily observational, with master interviews to anchor the narrative.
Footage of the hero in action is shot, edited and soundtracked in high-octane style of a scripted action.
Celebratory, defiant and surprising.