‘Law & Order’ Creator Dick Wolf Makes Novel Deal with William Morrow

COMMENTS (7)

• A couple of points. First, in WWII, there were plenty of movies dealing directly with the War: Casablanca, Sahara, Fighting Seabees, etc. Audiences then, with most of the military age male population under arms and in harms way (half a million dead at the end) had plenty of appetite for movies about the War (promising victory). The difference is that Americans were united in the War effort and none questioned its validity. The reason Hollywood does not want to make pro-American, anti-terror movies or TV series is that it mostly blames America for terror attacks and admires covertly, the terrorists. In that its mirrored by significant portions of Americans (though not the majority). Its not surprising. America in 1940 (check out the census online at Census.gov) was 89% White, 10% Black, and 1% everything else.

  Second, had Wolf made the move, it would have been, likely, a smash. Most of America wanted to see AQ get theirs (and still does). That was the function particularly of the early WWII movies when the war was going against America and Britain and the USSR.

  Third, Wolf is iffy in his accurate portrayal of crime’s social realities. The early years of L&O were not very popular in the ratings but realistic — nearly all the crimes were perpetrated by Black or Hispanic criminals upon Black and Hispanic victims. S. Empatha Merkeson IIRC won fame and an Emmy for a guest role as the mother of a victim of an illiterate pre-teen hitman who shot up the wrong house because he could not read. The mostly White audience found that social reality depressing and only when L&O switched to White villains and moralizing heroes did ratings hit, but even that faded — L&O’s ratings were pretty miserable the last few years.

  Can Wolf portray the social reality of terror? Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomber is typical. Elite background (father was Vice Air Marshal of Pakistan), failing personal/professional life, not living up to the father’s success, seemingly assimilated but drifting into Jihad?

  I don’t think so, and I don’t think Wolf will get many readers. His creative success came from abandoning the social reality of crime to cater to an Upper Class White audience wanting self-involved stories of Upper Class White heroes and villains because that involved no messy reality and an escapist fantasy. He didn’t pull the trigger and act like John Ford “They Were Expendable” and has sizable competition.

  Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, and others have covered that territory for years. Making thriller after thriller about jihadist terror attacks, stopped by American Intelligence agents and the FBI, in the nick of time. Call them “stopping 9/11 fantasies.” The good guys are always the intelligence agents and FBI, the bad guys always jihadists. They don’t get any press but sell a LOT of books, both authors IIRC have topped the NYT best-seller lists.

  Yet Hollywood has never heard of them.

  There’s the gender angle too. Flynn and Thor, like most thriller writers, have a mostly though not exclusively male readership. Wolf’s audience was mostly Upper Class White women. Nothing wrong with that, but can Wolf execute? I’m not even sure he can be Stephen J. Cannell. Cannell sells his novels, but at a lower rate than Flynn or Thor. Cannell having the advantage of writing mostly for men in television, so it was easier.

  Comment by whiskey — Monday July 26, 2010 @ 3:16pm EDT  Reply to this post

  • The assumptions in this blather are so flimsy I’m amazed they don’t float off my screen. Like, –

    “The mostly White audience found that social reality depressing and only when L&O switched to White villains and moralizing heroes did ratings hit…”

    and

    “Wolf’s audience was mostly Upper Class White women.”

    Wow. Cites? Nikki, you should charge this guy rent for living in your shadow.

    Comment by Worked on L&O — Monday July 26, 2010 @ 4:09pm EDT  Reply to this post

  • “The reason Hollywood does not want to make pro-American, anti-terror movies or TV series is that it mostly blames America for terror attacks and admires covertly, the terrorists.”

    Wow, just wow. How’d the deep end look when you jumped off?

    By the by, people know who Brad Thor and Vince Flynn are.

    Comment by Writer #100069 — Monday July 26, 2010 @ 6:06pm EDT  Reply to this post

  • As usual, Whiskey’s “analysis” is inaccurate, racist, sexist, and xenophobic. Why does Deadline continue to give this moron a platform for his not-so-coded hate speech?

    Comment by Whiskey's Arch Nemesis — Monday July 26, 2010 @ 11:53pm EDT  Reply to this post

• Dear Whiskey,

  You have made some interesting points. You mention that Flynn and Thor have covered this territory for years, but no one has ever heard of them.

  On the other hand, Dick Wolf’s name has been seen by millions of people for years and years on television. His is a recognizable name.

  He also has amazing contacts, and I’ve no doubt, the novels will be well researched and incredibly well written.

  I’d bet on him always.

  Comment by Anita Busch — Monday July 26, 2010 @ 4:22pm EDT  Reply to this post

• This just makes me so happy for Richard Abate. He has brilliantly shepherded the careers of so many of ICM and then Endeavor’s clients into fantastically lucrative publishing deals. Now that he is no longer bound to a single agency, he can do it for anyone. Good for you Richard for keeping your head held high and just doing the work, the results speak for themselves.

  Comment by A Bookie — Monday July 26, 2010 @ 4:35pm EDT  Reply to this post

• Hand it to Dick Wolf: he made perhaps the worst series eveer created ‘Law & Order’ and got the best press ever bought. (what it musta cost him?. LnO had bad writing and bad even stupider stupider writing but the show was liberal as in uppah west side Jerry Nadler sorta trash and Wolf took the money to the bank.

  Now it is new so he wants to do something on terrorism. Spare teh audience. Wolf is the sorta clown who gives money to the ACLU and thinks he’s charitable. Perpahs if Wolf is gonna do such a production he could hire writers who could write and actors who could act (definishely not Tovah Feldsuh) but then Wolf would have to spend real money and all his life he has been a tight self-serving lib who talks left and summers on South Hampton. So I ain’t gonna count on it.

  If there were a god he would let the Dick wolf era die. Just die.

  Comment by Boils aka David Brown — Monday July 26, 2010 @ 8:27pm EDT  Reply to this post