All Rise's white showrunner clashed with his diverse writers' room over the show's handling of race and gender

The New York Times

Five of seven writers from the first season of the CBS legal drama have departed -- three of whom were the show's three highest-ranking writers of color -- over their disputes with showrunner Greg Spottiswood over the show's handling of race and gender. "All Rise is loosely based on a 2005 nonfiction book, Courtroom 302, about a white male judge in Cook County, Ill," explains The New York Times' Nicole Sperling. " In an effort to make it of the moment, Mr. Spottiswood, a white writer-producer, changed the main character to a Black woman (played by Simone Missick). For CBS, a network that had been criticized for a prime-time lineup that lacked diversity, All Rise was a key part of a new wave of programming meant to better reflect the American population." Shernold Edwards, a Black woman who has been a writer-producer on Fox’s Sleepy Hollow and other shows, said she had left All Rise in November after disagreements with Spottiswood. “We had to do so much behind the scenes to keep these scripts from being racist and offensive,” she told Sperling. Former Revenge showrunner Sunil Nayer, who is Indian-American, also said he left after disputes with Spottiswood. Nayer complained that All Rise's storylines didn't accurately reflect Black people and other people of color. Nayar, who was an executive producer on All Rise, said Spottiswood seemed more interested in having him make public appearances rather than give him duties that lived up to his job title. “It became clear to me, when I left the show, that I was only there because I’m the brown guy,” Nayar said. “Greg hired me to be his brown guy.” Warner Bros. said in a statement that Spottiswood, from the beginning, had “insisted on having a co-show runner to serve as a trusted and valued partner to promote diverse storytelling with the series.” adding: “The truth is, the intended partnership we all hoped for did not materialize.” Following complaints, Warner Bros.' human resource department reviewed Spottiswood's leadership and decided to keep him and add a Black female corporate coach to advise him. “When it appeared the writers’ room was struggling to function as effectively as it should, I recognized that I needed to change how I was working,” Spottiswood said in a statement. “I voluntarily sought management training and leadership coaching.” Meanwhile, while CBS had no comment, Warner Bros. said in a statement: “As soon as we became aware of concerns in the ‘All Rise’ writers’ room, we took steps to conduct a review of the work environment. 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.”