It’s been four months since the trailer for the reality TV series ‘Grand Cayman: Secrets in Paradise’ first set tongues wagging, dividing potential viewers over its depiction of life on island.
The show finally made its debut on the small screen Tuesday night on Freeform, after being widely promoted across social media to local audiences by cast members, and advertised on streaming platform Hulu and across billboards in the US.
Sean Rankine, one of the executive producers, told the Compass he hoped “everyone would give the show a chance” ahead of its premiere, which has already reignited opinions over how people perceive the jurisdiction.
“I always read reviews, I want to know what people are thinking, but to be frank there’s never a show that’s for everyone,” he told the Compass via Zoom interview on Friday, prior to the show’s first episode.
Fostering creativity, boosting the economy
Reception and perception aside, the show pumped over $2 million into the local economy, according to Rankine, who said it also created more than 30 jobs for Caymanians during its three-month shoot.
“It was important to give back to the island,” he said.
“If that means local employment, infusion into the local economy, shopping at local stores, restaurants, hotels, etc… we’re critically aware of and we wanted to grow this thing from a grassroots level, so Cayman is infused in every level of this production, from creative to the [production assistants] and the drivers.”
In addition, he wanted to help foster a “richer film and TV community here… There are so many creatives here”, he said, pointing to the benefit of Caymanians being able to get hands-on production experience.
He added, “Everyone was important in this mix, but it was a Caymanian-bred programme… it’s truly a homegrown product.”
Rankine, whose family is from Cayman, was born and raised in the US, and got his start in reality television in the late ’90s. With over 25 years of experience, he has executive produced about 80 shows, including ‘America’s Next Top Model’, ‘Basketball Wives LA’, ‘Atlanta Exes’ and ‘Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane’.
The multi-generational Caymanian has now made Cayman his home base as a permanent resident.
“I made a promise to my dad years ago that I’d keep ties to the islands and make sure that this place would get the due that it deserved. And what better way to be able to highlight and showcase this place than on millions of TV screens across the world,” he said.
A show is born
Rankine explained that the show started at the beginning of the pandemic.
“I was watching people on Instagram, when the borders were closed… here’s this paradise that in the middle of everything is still incredibly beautiful… [with] the most incredible vibes,” he said.
Noting that Cayman has people from all socio-economic backgrounds and cultures, he wanted to know, “what does it mean when they live together, when they co-exist”.
As a person who has “been studying folks for a long time and seeing how they interact, I thought what better way to do that than in one of the most beautiful places in the world, with some of the most incredibly fascinating folks in the world as well, so that is how ‘Grand Cayman: Secrets in Paradise’ was born.”
However, getting shows off the ground is difficult, he said.
“People have no idea how hard it is to sell a show, and getting it up into production; that’s why we’re three years into this. To have an idea from pitch to pilot to being greenlit, to being on someone’s screen can take a long, long time, and so for us it’s been such an incredible journey.”
‘No better backdrop’
He felt it was important to hire Caymanians and train them to work in the local film industry, and bringing a production here “was just a great opportunity to do that. It was definitely a catalyst in wanting to bring that here, but truth be told, there’s no better backdrop for a show either, so in my experience you can’t get a more beautiful set than this.”
The unscripted original series follows a group of “uber-rich and on the rise locals and expats navigating the rocky waters of their relationships, friendships and careers,” according to its promotional material.
Included in the cast are Elizabeth Chambers, Selita Ebanks, Julian Foster, Courtney McTaggart and Chelsea Flynn.
“We have a wide swathe of people that are on the show, and I think we represent the best of what Cayman has to offer from locals to expats… that are in relationships that have everyday existence, we were able to jump into their world… and what they do in the day to day,” Rankine explained.
He said his partner, Mark Seliga, and the other producers “were really adamant about making sure that we’re having accurate depictions of people and how they interact… it’s really about finding these true people that have true interactions and watching their lives unfold naturally… We really want to make sure that it’s an actual depiction of how life is for folks that exist in a specific space.”
Rankine said the producer and cast develop a trust, and “you hold hands and hope it works”.
Calling every day “an adventure”, he added, “You don’t know how things will play out. You have an idea, but people are people, they unfold as they will, the universe has its own plan, so you have to be ready for what does occur.”
‘Some of our best work’
As for the end product, he said, “It’s incredible and some of the best we’ve ever done… I think for a first season cast to really get it, is really a rare thing… They really did… and gave and gave, and folks that know them are going to see true depictions of who they are and they’re going to recognise them.
“I think it’s about these people being 100% transparent, and I’m hoping the audience connects with them in that way because we had some really, really great stories.”
In addition to working in “fantastic” locations, Rankine said “the government was great in terms of helping us get our permits and get everything together here. We had a great reception from folks”.
Sharing the gift
Rankine said Cayman has something special. “This is an unusual place to live. The fact that we get to lay our heads here and say this is where we reside, it’s a gift, and I like the idea of sharing that gift with the rest of the world,” he noted, saying he wants to help “to drive business here, help to illustrate just how incredible we are”.
Rankine believes the show will promote Cayman and keep viewers engaged every week, “especially because it’s such a small community here – you know these people, so I think they’re going to tune in, whether they say they are or not.”
‘Grand Cayman: Secrets in Paradise’ premiered on Freeform and will be streaming on Hulu.
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Who? Never heard of these people.
I realize that the first episode is bound to be somewhat unfocused as characters are introduced, but last night’s beginning was an extreme disappointment. Determined to show from the outset that it was going to be fast paced and slick, few shots lasted more than two seconds, and the dialogue was so poorly articulated that they had to resort to sub-titles which remained on screen for so short a time that sometimes you didn’t have time to read them. It had a real hodgepodge of character development, bland in the extreme. Worst of all, it did nothing to show CI in a favorable light, using what appeared to be extremely short clips of the obvious attractions: beach, boats, surfing, palm trees, all of which could have been taken from generic tourist ads. Tedious boredom; very disappointing.
Yea it was a shame to not understand what that guy was saying – Tyrone or whatever his name was. Couldn’t read the subtitles they were super fast.
The first episode felt so scripted (let’s have a party) but not sure why there was a need to drive such a spike between Caymanians and Expats. Didn’t bring people together. It did a good job showing the Caymanians as entitled and the bakery girl as dragged through the mud.