The AS WE SPEAK Case Study (Part II): From Inception to Emmy Nomination

Part II: R&D&D&D&D&D

Read Part I of this series here:

---

Development. The long, laborious road of molding a concept into a television show or feature film. In Part II of the journey of AS WE SPEAK, we will dive into the process of transforming an as-yet-unpublished book manuscript and the authors’ mountains of research into something that a production company, studio, or network might see as a viable starting point for production. As always, enjoy the ride.

Developing a “Concept”

In acquiring the shopping rights to an unpublished manuscript written by two academics and first-time authors, Peter and I recognized that selling this property would effectively mean creating desirable IP from whole cloth. What’s more, we didn’t have a single, unified “take” on the subject matter — instead, we believed equally in the development potential of “rap on trial” as either a documentary or narrative project, and that we needed to find the right creative partner to attach and develop the material with us. This meant that we were trying to pitch a general concept, with multiple viable development options. In other words, we chose the narrowest path to success possible.

During the next few months, I dove into Andrea’s old law review articles, amicus briefs, and Erik’s op-ed's and testimony transcripts. We spoke on the phone several times to understand each of their career journeys, and to get a sense of what drove them to this work. The authors also pointed us to some of the “best” cases they had either researched or worked on — the most blatant instances of injustice, or dynamic cases where the music and/or actual conduct of the defendant could make a reasonable judge, juror, or audience member actually wonder whether rap lyrics should be kept out of trial or not. The stories were heartbreaking, and the musical subtext provided a rich storytelling foundation. Now we had to get someone with some clout to buy it!

In the fall, we put together what we thought was a really strong three-page treatment. It included both scripted and unscripted proposals — a documentary concept that highlighted a broad range of cases from 1990-present day, and a television drama series centered on an unlikely legal duo defending artists whose words are misused against them in court. Most importantly, knowing how little attention is given to new projects from no-name producers, we tried to reduce the project to an executive-friendly, eye-catching theme: hip hop-meets-criminal justice. It started like this:

Reading it back now, it was clearly too wonky, and lacked the real emotional stakes or personal narratives that producers and network execs look for in new material. It was both too simple and too complex, a niche topic that also felt obvious and non-controversial. It was noticeably devoid of any talent attachments, and the IP had no real commercial value. It may not have popped off the page, but it wasn’t terrible! We met with a nice lit agent at CAA who agreed to send the pages out to a few of her clients. We could successfully report back to Erik and Andrea that their book was making its rounds, and that an agency was repping the project. Big wins!

Well…nobody responded for months. In October, I ran into an old friend from high school who had recently started working at Kerry Washington’s production company, Simpson Street, as a development executive. I mentioned the project to her and found myself getting pretty animated. I had now started to familiarize myself with the people involved and the stories of defendants, and could pitch the concept pretty fluently. My friend seemed to understand the storytelling world that this project could inhabit, and promised to bring it to her boss.

Pitch to Kerry Washington

FEBRUARY 7, 2018 — Three months later, we landed a meeting at the Simpson Street office at the Sunset Gower lot. It was an incredible opportunity to present this story to the person that we thought was the perfect choice to star in a series about a trailblazing attorney fighting criminal injustice and defending young rap artists. In advance of the meeting, we asked Erik and Andrea if they would write a letter to Kerry for us to give to her at the end of the meeting. The authors had no idea what to make of the request, peppering us with questions about the tone, length, and objective of the letter. But on their first shot, they penned something meaningful, personal, and compelling. We couldn’t wait to hand over the letter, so we decided to limit the pitch to the scripted format of the project, take some questions, then leave the letter behind.

The pitch started off well — not perfect, but we were moving through the story beats confidently. After a few questions, we pulled out the letter. To our shock, Kerry Washington started to read it aloud:

Dear Ms. Washington,

We are very excited that you are considering this project. We have been working over a decade to draw attention to this serious social and legal injustice, and we never would’ve predicted that we might find an outlet in the film and television industry, much less land on your doorstep. But here we are, and we believe that you are the perfect person to tell this story to the wider public.

[…]

There are many reasons why we keep fighting this battle. Without question, we find the legal rules and process that let this happen to be extremely unfair and a deeply troubling aspect of our criminal justice system. We are equally concerned by the larger social justice implications, notably the trap that has been laid for Black youth. The music industry offers the promise of riches, fame, and upward mobility to the hungry, young Black artist who best plays the role of the thuggish, hyper-masculine, badass Black man. In turn, the criminal justice system unapologetically uses that representation to punish these artists, often severely.

This perversion of the American dream denies the legitimacy of rap artistry and the humanity of rap artists. As a complex and creative art form, rap not only entertains but serves as means of social and political expression. Yet it’s rarely acknowledged this way in court. And artists who find themselves before the court with their lyrics used against them are reduced to the worst stereotypes and tropes of Blackness. In contrast, our experience is that these defendants are often smart, creative, hard-working, and full of promise, though they come from difficult backgrounds. This view is rarely brought to light in court; rather, these young men are readily maligned and thrown away whether innocent or guilty.

We believe that this project can change the lives of individual defendants and artists and has the potential to transform the larger criminal justice system. It will both entertain and educate everyday viewers--the same people who may end up being jurors with significant power over an individual’s life. […]

Sincerely,

Andrea and Erik

About halfway though, the words came out slower, her voice cracking slightly. The power and potential of this work was becoming clear, and one of the most thoughtful, successful, and impactful actors and producers in entertainment was feeling it in real time. Kerry put the letter down, and the room fell silent. She thanked me and Pete for coming in to share it with her. She looked at her producing partner, and without committing to anything, shared how much she liked the project together. I will never forget that day.

Pete and I drove back to our office together, and called Erik and Andrea. We were all kind of in shock, thinking that the Rap on Trial television show was actually going to get made, and that Kerry Washington might star in it.

** Rights Extension 1: February — August 2018

On the heels of the Simpson Street pitch, Erik and Andrea happily granted us a six-month extension on our initial shopping agreement. Pete and I got to work, with marching orders from CAA to find and propose writers that we felt were best to lead the series development. We read dozens of scripts and met with a few writers that really excited us. The plan was for us to find the right voice, and for Simpson Street to engage that writer to write a pilot — or treatment — of the television show, under their television deal with ABC Signature (I think that’s where they were).

But over the course of five month, our conversations with Simpson Street grew more infrequent, and their email responses often included some version of “so sorry, we’re slammed.” By June 2018, it was made clear to us through their agents at CAA that Simpson Street was simply too busy to devote the necessary time to develop this project from the ground up — Kerry was in the last season of Scandal, then I think she was set to star in a Broadway play. Plus the company had like 10 other projects in development. We really shouldn’t have been surprised — it was a long shot with a very loose attachment. But the “pass” did not discourage us, in fact, it only reaffirmed our commitment to the project, and belief that it contained some storytelling magic.

** Rights Extension 2: August 2018 — February 2019

Still riding the wave of possibility following the Simpson Street dalliance, we were able to secure a second six-month shopping rights extension from Erik and Andrea. We had also managed to land pitches with several other high-profile production companies, including a follow-up with Gabrielle Union’s team, so it felt like only a matter of time before the project would get sold.

Pitch to Overbrook Entertainment

OCTOBER 10, 2018 — My 33rd birthday. I’ll never forget this pitch. CAA set up a meeting with Will Smith’s production company Overbrook Entertainment. Once again, we focused the pitch on the scripted television version of the project, but had more confidence broadening the discussion to the documentary possibilities as well. Pete and I had now presented this story to a handful of powerful, discerning creative executives, and the pitch had gotten progressively tighter, and our delivery more passionate. And on that day, in a conference room near the penthouse of a Sunset Strip office building, we crushed it. Our delivery was sharp, and led seamlessly into a wide-ranging conversation about the characters, the issue, the music, and the culture. We were in there for an hour and a half, and when it was all done, we were in a full embrace. Hugging, at a pitch. No joke! It was a home run — almost felt better than the Simpson Street pitch — so I treated myself to a birthday steak a several Old Fashioneds.

And then we never heard from Overbrook again.

We were honestly dumbfounded. Week after week, emails went unanswered. The agents couldn’t make sense of it either. So by November, Pete and I had to look at alternatives. Pete was a great writer, but did not have any credits yet, let alone showrunner experience, so he was not goingto pen the treatment. Besides, he had just returned from Bolivia directing our plane crash documentary, and was completely cooked. He did, however, have two friends from college that he thought might be willing to share the load of writing a treatment on spec — Tony had just had a screenplay on the Blacklist, and John was a Grammy Award-winning songwriter that had just wrapped a season as a staff writer on Get Shorty. They quickly gravitated to the material, and agreed to build out a limited series season one treatment. But with no money on the table, we weren’t in any position to put their feet to the fire. 2018 would come to a close no closer to a deal than the year began.

** Rights Extension 3: February — August 2019

John and Tony completed the scripted series treatment on February 15, just in time for us to request an extension with Erik and Andrea, again for six months. The story John and Tony constructed was great — an amalgam of various true cases from the book, and modeled after the kinds of shows that were having lots of success at the time (True Detective, Seven Second, The Sinner, Bodyguard, etc.). We had a document that we knew we could take to executives and sell. Using mostly personal relationships, we got the project in front of Will Packer Productions, Shondaland, Wiip, and Ice Cube’s company. None of them said yes, but the responses were promising. Again, we were pushing this forward every way we knew how.

Until April 22, when every writer in the WGA fired their agents. This included John, which meant the treatment was radioactive for the time being.

All of a sudden all momentum ceased, and the industry kind of ground to a halt — at least for producers with no credits to speak of. We explained the situation to Erik and Andrea, but by this point, I could tell we were starting to sound like a broken record. There was always some reason that the project wasn’t moving forward, and we kept thanking them for their patience. The only thing we had in our corner was that our two ongoing documentary projects — BLACK BOX and BLACKBALLED — were gaining real momentum, and by June we had secured financing for both projects: The former from an independent financier, the latter as a commission from the now-defunct Quibi. At least we could tell the authors that SOMEONE was willing to buy our shit!

The Trial of Drakeo the Ruler

JULY 25, 2019 — In June, Erik alerted me that he would be in LA to testify in what he called “a fairly high profile trial.” LA-native rapper Drakeo the Ruler had been charged with twelve criminal counts, ranging from conspiracy to murder, in association with a shooting at a party. The case had been covered extensively by journalist Jefj Weiss, who had meticulously reported the egregious behavior of one particular LA County Sheriff that had gone out of his way to lock Drakeo up. I attended a few days of the trial, and Drakeo’s lyrics formed the foundation of the state’s case, which was flawed at every level. Ultimately, Drakeo was acquitted on 10 counts, thanks, in part, to Erik’s testimony. But the jury hung on two remaining counts, and rather than drop the case (as was widely expected and would have been customary), the DA decided to refile those final two charges. Drakeo was sent to solitary confinement as he awaited his re-trial, which we were told would take place in the fall.

For the first time, we saw an active case that was truly dynamic and hinged on the exploitation and misinterpretation of rap lyrics. Drakeo’s case was also the latest in sordid history of Los Angeles law enforcement’s mistreatment of the Black community. With Erik, we had inside access to Drakeo’s defense team, and since it was taking place in Compton, where I was once a judicial clerk and was sworn into the bar, I could attend trial and hopefully get access to bring a camera in the courtroom. All the stars were aligning to feature a high profile case at the center of a Rap on Trial documentary.

** Rights Extension 4: August 2019 — February 2020

But of course, our shopping agreement with Erik and Andrea was about to expire. Luckily, this latest extension negotiation lined up with the Drakeo storyline, and the beginning of production for BLACK BOX and BLACKBALLED. Once again, we had just enough heat on us to convince the authors to re-up once more for six months. But their patience was wearing thin.

That fall, I developed an unscripted format for the project that was a city-by-city examination of hip hop’s interaction with law enforcement, driven by the dozens of cases I was now intimately familiar with in each city or state: Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Oakland, LA and New York. We were going to use the ongoing trial of Drakeo the Ruler as a narrative spine through each episode of Season 1, while dipping into the social, political, and musical elements that created the sounds and cultural complexities of each city. It was really coming into shape, so we invested in our first creative deck.

Fall 2019 deck cover

The book RAP ON TRIAL was set to be released in November 2019, and our two documentaries would wrap production by the end of the year. We were ready to take our next big documentary project to market with creative materials dialed in. 2020 was set to be our year…

Come back next week to hear about this crazy thing called COVID-19, and the first wedge driven between us and the authors…