Rabin’s granddaughter inks Hollywood TV deal

Noa Rothman, the granddaughter of the late Yitzhak Rabin, gave Israeli audiences a glimpse into a prime minister’s family’s gilded world when she wrote the drama “The Prime Minister’s Children.” Now American audiences are about to also get a taste, thanks to a deal inked this week with Hollywood’s Timberman-Beverly productions to produce an adaptation of that program for American television.

The deal is the latest in a long string of successful sales of Israeli formats to American television, the most famous being that of Showtime’s “Homeland,” which began in Israel as the beloved series “Hatufim” (Prisoners of War). Other standouts include “In Treatment,” the gameshow “Still Standing,” and “Hostages,” whose Israeli and American versions are currently airing simultaneously.

“The Prime Minister’s Children,” which was broadcast on the Israeli cable network HOT and co-written by Rothman and Shachar Magen, focused on the public and private lives of a fictional Israeli prime minister, his wife and his two adolescent children. The US version will follow a similar model but instead peer into the private rooms of the White House, making the audience privy to the inner workings of an American president.

“The most interesting thing about being the daughter or son of a prime minister is the price you pay, willingly,” Rothman told The New York Times last year. “In a normal family, in your teens, your mission is to rebel, but here, at that crucial stage, you defend your father. In politics you are a soldier of a political camp, and above all you are loyal.”