Writers’ Exodus At ‘All Rise’ Over Representation Disputes

Five writers have left the writers’ room of CBS
VIAC
courtroom drama All Rise after disputes with showrunner Greg Spottiswood over representation of race and gender as well as ‘tokenism’ – according to a report in the New York Times
NYT.

These disputes over the representation of race and gender have reportedly been going on since the show’s inception in the summer of 2019. Originally the show had another executive producer who was a person of colour, Indian-American Sunil Nayar (CSI:Miami, Body of Proof), but he left alleging tokenism and saying that “Greg hired me to be his brown guy”. He left and was replaced by Dee Harris-Lawrence (David Makes Man) in December. Other writers also had issues with the approach to representation on the show. Shernold Edwards, a Black female producer and writer (Sleepy Hollow, Killjoys) left in November, she said “We had to do so much behind the scenes to keep these scripts from being racist and offensive”.

Warner Bros. confirmed that they were aware of the issues and their HR department looked into them in August/November of last year, saying that “While the studio identified areas for improvement, the findings did not reveal conduct that would warrant removing series creator Greg Spottiswood from the executive producer role.” After looking into these issues they assigned Spottiswood a Black female corporate coach to advise him in his role as showrunner.

Spottiswood himself said in a statement “I acknowledge that I can have a rhetorical, professorial tone in the room, and that can be perceived by some as condescending, and that I can be defensive in creative conversations and debates. I remain strongly committed to improving my communication style and skills, and to being a more inclusive leader — ensuring that writers and artists are not just heard, but feel listened to, respected, safe and valued.”

These writers leaving comes in the midst of the continuing Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd which have led a broader reckoning about the treatment of Black people and people of color more broadly. This reckoning has included the creative industries where calls have been made for better representation of Black people and people of color both in front of and behind the camera. While All Rise is ostensibly a part of that change, with a Black female lead (Simone Missick) and a writers room in which five of the original seven writers were people of color, these issues show that there is clearly a long way to go.

All Rise airs on CBS and follows Simone Missick as a judge in Los Angeles who sees the best in the legal system and tries to improve it from the inside. The show was renewed for a second season which is currently in production.