Citizen Hall
The “Brad Hall question†begs to be addressed (“Married ... With Issues,†by Paul Brownfield, Feb. 10). Your article was useful, in a People magazine way, missing some details. For example, the fateful dinner party where Hall met his mentor, Gary David Goldberg, happened at the time that Julia Louis-Dreyfus was a regular on a TV show (“Day by Dayâ€) produced by Goldberg’s company.
No doubt about it, Brad Hall is a lucky guy. Not the luckiest guy in town, because anyone who gets a “created by†credit in TV land is lucky (if not also talented).
I don’t covet his beautiful, well-known wife because I call attention to a bigger, more important issue, one for the Writers Guild: Why are four men doing all the writing on a show about a single woman? There is nothing “pure†about that. Nor is it “different†in terms of doing business. But Brad Hall is really, really happy and, therefore, a good citizen.
M.A. CHERRY
Los Angeles
*
I’d be interested in learning why Brownfield feels his personal opinions on people’s relationships and their vehicles for success are appropriate in his article on “Watching Ellie.â€
And what exactly did Brownfield do in his research on this show and Brad Hall? Walk into a writer-friendly cafe and ask around for anything nasty that someone had to say about the man? Place some phone calls to industry “connections†to get their personal opinions? This article appears to be nothing but a thinly veiled, bitter rant.
I guess it’s just easier for Brownfield to dig up some dirt to support his preconceived opinions and collect a “well-deserved†paycheck at the end of the week than to write an unbiased story on a show and those who create it.
MIKE MARGOLIN
Los Angeles
*
As assistant director members of the Directors Guild of America, we have more than 50 years of experience among the four of us. We feel, therefore, that we can speak from a wide variety of contacts with various show-runners, writers and executive producers over the many episodes we have all worked on.
We take exception to the light in which Brad Hall, the show-runner of “Watching Ellie,†was portrayed in Brownfield’s article. The Brad we know is extremely involved in the day-to-day running of the show, always present on the set when we are shooting, and accessible to both cast and crew for questions and suggestions. He is not, as the article implied, someone who doesn’t “trust his writers†or is “harried†in any way. It seems as though Brownfield went out of his way to find two (anonymous) sources that would say unkind things about Brad, and even those two sources were more nebulous than negative.
The worst offense by Brownfield was his conclusion that the “scuttlebutt around town is generally cynical about ‘Watching Ellie’s’ prospects for survival.†If Brownfield has an opinion about the show, let him critique “Watching Ellie,†rather than repeat rumor and innuendo. In the future, we hope a profile of a man of Brad’s caliber can be written by a journalist with less of a chip on his shoulder than Brownfield seems to have.
YUDI BENNETT, JIM WEIS,
JULES KOVISARS, MICHAEL KELLER
Assistant directors, “Watching Ellieâ€
Culver City
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