Who would have thought that the doings of a real estate agency would provide such a rich source of material for comedy? The ABC’s new Wednesday night offering, Rosehaven, goes to prove what we in the business have long known; that real estate in this business we see plenty to laugh and cry about.
Sure we’re dealing with serious stuff, selling and managing homes that represent the hopes and dreams and financial future of our clients. But at heart ours is a people business and we get to see people at their best and worst; in moments of great sadness when it involves death or divorce or immense happiness when the home holds the promise of a joy-filled future.
From our perspective it’s a refreshing change to see real estate agents portrayed in a way that raises a laugh rather than a sneer. In fact Rosehaven’s bumbling Daniel (Luke McGregor) and best buddy Emma (Celia Pacquola) might even raise the standing of real estate agents beyond their lamentably low ranking. Because let’s face it having a laugh is often the first step on the road to respect and friendship.
The last time we can recall having a laugh about the antics of a real estate agent was way back in the 90s when Seachange was a runaway hit on the ABC. John Howard earned a Logie for his portrayal of Bob Jelly of Bob Jelly Real Estate, and though we might have laughed he nonetheless fitted with a certain slimeball stereotype of a real estate agent.
Of course there’s no shortage of real estate agents on our TV screens lately. It’s hard to think of a time when the opinions of agents were sought so frequently on the nightly news. We’ve also had Homes Under the Hammer and Hot Property. The arrival of Sky News Real Estate lifted the profile even further with a marathon six hours of TV every Saturday morning in which agents figure prominently.
Reality TV has also delivered a taste of stardom to the sellers of real estate, think The Block and English imports such as Escape to the Country. Though none have quite reach the megawatt status delivered by shows such as Million Dollar Listing New York in the US. One featured broker has reportedly had to hire a full-time driver to take him to and from showings to avoid being mobbed by fans and has recently been signed by a talent agency.
The cinematic love affair with real estate pre-dates the small screen with the 1992 film of David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Glengarry Glen Ross, leading the way. The film depicts two days in the life of four real estate agents driven to hardball tactics to list and sell or be sacked. With its cast of some of Hollywood’s greatest actors including Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey it’s a darkly compelling black comedy that has since been used as a training tool for real estate agents. One would hope its purpose is instruction on how not to sell real estate.
For scarier stuff in the real estate genre the 1990 movie Pacific Heights starring Michael Keaton and Melanie Griffith gained notoriety as the first “eviction thriller”. There are more than a few real estate agents who can relate to that.
But for our money, Rosehaven, is a stand-out winner and if they ever run short of script lines, we’d be more than happy to oblige.