WtFOCK

**wtFOCK**, also known as **Skam Belgium** is the Belgian remake of **SKAM**, a teen web-series that aired in Norway from 2015 to 2017.

After the first season, wtFOCK begins to add in original ideas and changes aspects of the original show. While the original is based in Norway and shows how teens live there, wtFOCK shows the differences between the two countries that go beyond language.

## Plot

wtFOCK follows teens in Antwerp, Belgium as they go through high school, showing different problems and issues that teens face everyday. Each season follows a different teen as they face different issues in their lives, some examples are friendships, sexuality, cheating, sexual assault, homophobia, and islamophobia.

### Season 1

The first season of wtFOCK follows Jana Ackermans and her relationship with her boyfriend Jens Stoffels. Main topics of the season are struggles of finding friendships and self-discovery.

### Season 2

The second season follows Zoë Loockx and her growing relationship with Senne De Smet. One of the topics of the season is sexual assault.

### Season 3

The third season follows Robbe IJzermans while he comes to terms with his sexuality after meeting Sander Driesen. Main topics of the season are sexuality, homophobia, family troubles, mental health, friendship.

### wtFOCKDOWN

These few episodes follow all of the main characters and their ways of dealing with the Covid-19 Lockdown in Belguim. It shows you their days through clips of them video chatting or texting one another.

### Season 4

This season follows Kato Fransen after she transfers to Koninklijk Atheneum School. She struggles with trying to be a normal teenager and make friends at her new school, as well as her relationship with Moyo Makadi, while being a famous influencer. Main topics of the season are mental health, racism, self-harm, and self-esteem.

### Season 5

Following Yasmina Ait Omar, this seasons central themes are religion, family, islamophobia, xenophobia, love, and acceptance.

## Series Format

wtFOCK shares the same set up as the original series, which is posting clips throughout the week as well as social media posts and texts. All posts are archived on its website. For most part, in the second, third and in the fourth seasons, clips have been uploaded daily.

## Production

### First Generation

The first season started production in summer 2018, and was released the following fall with little to no press before the premiere. The series became popular amongst flemish youth through authentic discovery after the first clip was dropped on October 2, 2018. The first episode aired on October 7, making the seventh international remake to be released.

In December 2018, it was confirmed that wtFOCK would get a second season.. Filming began in March 2019 with several clues about the upcoming season spread throughout early spring on social media. The series was promoted with goodie-bags and merchandise of the series spread across several secondary schools in Flanders. In late March, a countdown was added to wtFOCK's website counting down to the season's first clip which was schedule for April 22.

On April 19, the website changed it's header image from Jana's header to one with Robbe leading to confusion on who was the main for the season.When first clip was released, it featured both Zoë's and Robbe's perspectives furthering confusion. After the second clip was released the website's header was changed to one with Zoë with all subsequence clips being her POV, finally confirming that she was the central character for the season.

On June 26 2019, a third season was confirmed. Filming began in August 2019, but production was kept under wraps. No promotion or announcements were made until the week before the first clip dropped, where lucky fans received shirts with the airtime of the first clip on it, airing on October 12th. The third season also featured further collaboration with [watwat.be], which is linked at the end of each clip to provide answers to questions viewers might have.

In November 2019, it was confirmed through casting calls that a fourth season was in preproduction. In March 2020, while in production for the fourth season, Belgium's lockdown measures against COVID19 paused production on the fourth season. Two weeks later, #WTFOCKDOWN was introduced as the first ever lockdown-based content, which was largely carried by video calls between the characters, filmed in the actors' homes. The production team have shown great adaptability in the production of content to follow the timeline of the series and the characters authentically.

The fourth season premiered on August 29th, 2020. To follow the Skam timeline they made the fourth season about a new character and differed Yasmina's season to 2021. They changed the banner on the website to one with silhouettes to keep the central character a mystery and only revealed who it would be after the first clip had dropped.

### Second Generation

The web series concluded its five-season run in June 2021. However, on April 17, 2023, an unexpected Season 6 update occurred when the series' Instagram account was completely cleared of content from Seasons 1 to 5. Then, a cryptic Instagram post appeared with the message, "Life is not black and white" along with the hashtag #wtFOCKADA.  Then a TikTok account had been created with wtFOCK:ADA poster as a profile photo. At the same time, belgian actor Jean Janssens also shared a video on their TikTok that refers to wtFOCK . This short Wes Anderson-esque clip ended with the clear message "Saturday 9:15". The first clip dropped on April 22, 2023.

## References

1. ↑ https://tagmag.news/geheime-tienerreeks-wtfock-krijgt-tweede-seizoen
2. ↑ https://wtfock-skam.tumblr.com/post/183774014339/s2-april-22nd
3. ↑ https://wtfock-skam.tumblr.com/post/184295470974/new-header-uuhm-guys-im-really-sorry-about-my
4. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CrI-\_uOo8Kv/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link