‘A Friend of the Family’: EP and Jan Broberg Reveal How Accurate the True Crime Drama Really Is [Exclusive]
Although Peacock’s new true crime drama, A Friend of the Family, dramatizes the story of Jan Broberg, she and executive producer Nick Antosca now reveal how shockingly accurate it is. Many viewers might already have seen Netflix’s 2019 Abducted in Plain Sight; however, the documentary does not delve into the pure seduction and manipulation that Robert Berchtold (portrayed by Jake Lacy) put the Broberg family through. He kidnapped their daughter twice, when she was 12 and then again at 14. Jan Broberg and EP Nick Antosca spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet about why they chose to tell the story and how accurate A Friend of the Family is on Peacock.
Nick Antosca explained why he chose to retell ‘Abducted in Plain Sight’ as a true crime — ‘A Friend of the Family’
The story of Jan Broberg is not a new one. The abduction and sexual assault happened to Jan in Idaho in the 1970s. She and her mother, Mary Ann Broberg, published a memoir, Stolen Innocence: The Jan Broberg Story, in 2003. Then Skye Borgman produced and directed Forever B for Top Knot Films in 2017. Netflix rereleased the documentary in 2019, renaming it Abducted in Plain Sight. So, why did EP Nick Antosca choose to retell the story again with A Friend of the Family on Peacock?
“I really admire the documentary,” Antosca began. “However, when I saw it, I had a whole bunch of questions and I felt like I understood the story from the outside, but not the inside. I wanted to get deeper into it and understand really how it happened and what it felt like when it happened. And with 9 hours and nine episodes to tell the story, we can live it with the family. We can live their experience and the slow burn. Rather than getting a bunch of crazy twists and turns, you also get the context in which it happened at the human experience in which it happened, which is so essential to understanding how it happened, you know, because of the normalcy and the community that this guy was able to use and infiltrate.”
Why did Jan Broberg agree to tell her story again?
Jan Broberg went through the horrible crimes that Robert Berchtold committed in real life. Then she helped write a book about it and sat down for an extensive Netflix documentary. Why did Jan Broberg agree to tell her story again in A Friend of the Family? Wouldn’t it be more tortuous to keep reliving it?
“For me, it was really important to tell that story again with that kind of context, to show the psychology behind how groomers and predators operate,” Jan Broberg explained. “It’s a slow process. They don’t just target the child. They target all of the family members, the people around the target. So the fact that everybody knew, trusted and loved this man [was important]. He knew exactly how to manipulate every person around me as well as me.”
“I think that was really important because that’s the story that I think millions of other families and children who have been through sexual abuse will relate to and this was my message — is that it’s someone close to you. It’s someone that, you know, that’s close. It’s not a scary stranger very often. And that’s really an important story that I don’t think gets told enough. And I guess my story is just crazy enough that it was good for television or for a series.”
Jan Broberg admitted that her parents were naïve
Broberg felt that she needed a break after the Netflix documentary. She received over 30,000 messages of thanks from people she inspired to tell their stories. However, she also faced severe backlash. Many people wondered how her parents let Berchtold abduct her twice. A Friend of the Family was an opportunity to tell the story again and make it as accurate as possible.
“My parents who were so wonderful, I would never have survived without them,” Broberg said about the backlash toward her parents. “They were naive, but they were good parents and we had a close family and we still do. I’m so lucky for that. I knew that the story needed to have another telling. I didn’t know that this would happen, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have an award winning team and cast.”
How accurate is ‘A Friend of the Family’ to the Jan Broberg story?
After watching A Friend of the Family, some viewers might wonder why there is a disclaimer. So, Showbiz asked Antosca and Broberg how accurate the story is and why there is a statement reporting that some things were added or changed.
“There’s very little that was added,” Antosca explained about A Friend of the Family. “The only changes that we made were when we had to condense things for time. Because Jan and her family were so involved, it was a real partnership. We had access to an almost unbelievable amount of family diaries, FBI records, and court transcripts. We had so much. So I would say that is a legal disclaimer that we have to include. The show is pretty, pretty accurate. We tried to be very, very, very close to what we had access to.”
Jan Broberg agreed with Antosca about the accuracy of A Friend of the Family.
“There’s those moments where Nick’s on one side and my son’s on the other side as we’re watching and they’re gripping my hands because it’s so realistic,” Broberg added. “And every actor just brought their A-game to the richness of these characters that are real people who experience something unthinkable that they never saw coming. We lived in such a safe environment in small town America. It was not ever something we were looking for or we thought could happen.”
“I’ve told my story for 32 years because I know it’s so common,” she continued. “It really is the person next door or in your home. And so that’s just so wonderful to know we had to condense things. There’s even more, you know, of the story that, you know, we’re going to try to give access to people, to superfans that want more. We’re trying to organize all of those other things that maybe got left out in the podcast or in document form that we’re going to release. And so it’s a lot, but it’s relatable. That’s the thing. People have this in their home, they have this in their lives. They know someone close to them or it happened to them.”
“I would just add that there are a few supporting characters or minor people who we changed the names and some details just to protect people who are involved but innocent and are still alive. Yeah, but other than that, it is as close as it can be.”
A Friend of the Family will premiere on Peacock on Thursday, October 6, with four episodes. The remaining five episodes will drop weekly on Thursdays through November 10.
How to get help: In the U.S., call the RAINN National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 to connect with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area.
