tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18013962.post-1156219234532658102006-08-28T09:17:00.000-07:002006-09-28T09:20:57.643-07:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5142/1723/1600/HandwrittenBlack.13.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5142/1723/400/HandwrittenBlack.10.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Once more into the archives, dear friends, but this time it's for something that's never been publicly heard before: A scene from a television pilot called <i>Georgetown</i> written and produced in the disorienting months after the 9/11 attacks.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5142/1723/1600/Capital%7E050925_0883c.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5142/1723/320/Capital%7E050925_0883c.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I was asked to create a series about the permanent power structure in Washington, D.C. in August of 2001. I said yes and a few weeks later the meaning, content and relevance of the project changed completely. There was still a desire to do the show on the part of the network and I felt it was important to become part of the national dialogue about what it meant to be an American when America was under attack. I wrote the piece in October and November, 2001.<br /><br />In the scene, the powerful matriarch of the Garrison family has a quiet chat with a new senator from Colorado, recently appointed to complete the term of a beloved politician who died in office. It takes place in the library of the Garrison house in Georgetown during a dinner party at which the President of the United States is expected.<br /><br />I gave Mrs. Garrison my take on this country and had the great good fortune to have my two-cents delivered by Helen Mirren. Andrew McCarthy plays the idealistic senator.<br /><br />The pilot was not picked up by the network and has never been shown to the public. So, a world premiere right there on your computer and in your iPod.<br /><br />Something you won't get from listening to the dialogue: The photograph Mrs. Garrison refers to as hanging over the mantel in the library is by O.Winston Link. Here's a reproduction:<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5142/1723/1600/rrlink02lg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5142/1723/400/rrlink02lg.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5142/1723/1600/clearing.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5142/1723/320/clearing.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> <br /><br /> <i> Helen Mirren</i><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Handwritten Theatre: Summer Bonus Track #4<br />Performed by Helen Mirren and Andrew McCarthy<br />Running time: 6:08<br />All audiences<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />O. Winston Link's black-and-white photographs from the last days of American steam engines are some of the most powerful and evocative images ever recorded. Take a look.<br /><center><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=handwrittenth-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0810981858&fc1=FFFFFF&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0099FF&bc1=000000&bg1=000000&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe></center>Joseph Doughertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697410047131708043noreply@blogger.com