Chugunsk Style (tentative title)
While an American saying goes, “Make friends with the neighbors before buying a house”, Russians say, “My neighbor’s cow died; not big news, but still good news.”
The comedy series is set in a luxury housing development twelve miles from the city of Chugunsk. The developing company was planning to turn the housing development into a local Rublyovka (Moscow’s most prestigious neighborhood) but as the result of the economic recession the developer went bust and only two houses have been built. Two families, a Russian and an American, the Polevois and the Shanklies, have been “fortunate” enough to buy these houses in the middle of nowhere.
This is how the story of difficult, yet hilarious relations between the two very different families belonging to different cultures starts. The Polevois see the Shanklies as dumb fat Americans, while the Shanklies think that the Polevois, like all Russians, are crazy drunks and devout communists. Disputes and quarrels between the neighbors resemble a mini cold war. Only utilities, a necessity of daily life, don’t let the cold war turn into an actual combat. The thing is that the main water shut-off valve for both houses is located in the territory of the Polevois’ house, while the main electrical switch is under control of the Shanklies. Every time a conflict flares up, both families threaten to put their ‘weapons’ into action. However, common sense always wins because if the neighborhood consists of just two families, there is no chance to find a better neighbor than you already have.
Genre: Comedy
Episodes: 16
Produced by: Yuri Sapronov, Andrei Smirnov, Dmitri Meskhiev
Written by: Denis Kaimakov, Yevgeni Orlov
Directed by: Yelena Novikova, Mikhail Bagdasarov
Director of Photography: Oleg Ivanov
Production Designer: Yuliya Charandayeva
Cast: Sergey Gabrielyan (as Viktor Polevoi), Mariya Aronova (as Viktor’s wife), Arunas Sakalauskas (as Bill Shankly), Olga Tumajkina (as Gina Shankly), Beata Tiskevic (as Samantha Shankly), Anton Babashkin, and Viktor Suprun
