5 Writers Exit ‘All Rise’ Over Depiction of Race and Gender

Some behind-the-scenes drama has led to a shakeup in the All Rise writers room.

The New York Times reports that the CBS’s courtroom drama has lost five of its original seven writers after disputes over how the show depicts race and gender. Among those, the three highest-ranking writers of color. 

All Rise‘s white showrunner, Greg Spottiswood, had disputes with the writers over the show’s depiction of race and gender as early as the second episode of the series. Spottiswood kept his job after complaints were made to human resources.

The exiting writers said that Spottiswood frequently ignored, rejected, or resisted attempts to have the characters and storyline accurated reflect the experience of Black people and people of color. Writers have also noted the amount of cleanup they’ve had to do behind the scenes to keep the show from being racist and offensive.

One of the writers who’s departed the series is Shernold Edwards, a Black woman who previously served as writer-producer on Fox’s Sleepy Hollow and other shows.

Edwards left All Rise in November and has recalled several instances where her attempts to engage in effective dialogue about race were blocked.

Sunil Nayer, an Indian-American television writer who has worked on ABC’s Revenge and CBS’s CSI: Miami, also left the show. In addition to his concerns about the depiction of race and gender on the show was the impression that Spottiswood seemed more interested in Nayer’s appearance at public events.

Nayer served as Executive Producer, but said that Spottiswood didn’t seem interested in giving him duties that matched 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 in an interview. “Greg hired me to be his brown guy.”

Nayer also said that Spottiswood killed a scene on All Rise Season 1 Episode 3, “Sweet Bird of Truth,” in which a Black bailiff is stopped by police while jogging, afterwards two Black characters discussed the topic of racist policing including the show’s lead Simone Missick. 

Spottiswood argued it was such a common practice it did not merit a discussion between two Black co-workers. It wasn’t until Missick complained about the ommission that Nayer rewrote the scene.

“He makes race palatable for a CBS audience and the CBS brass, because he doesn’t know anything about it,” Edwards said to The New York Times. “So there is this strange tone of nothing being said, but the visual representation is there. It’s safe, and it’s empty. All the reality is absent.”

Edwards also recalled another instance on All Rise Season 1 Episode 2, “A Long Days Journey into ICE,” where two female characters are in an elevator. The two characters enter an elevator after talking about how one character is living alone after leaving an abusive relationship. 

In the original script, a naked man enters the elevator and the two women continue their conversation as if nothing is wrong. 

“Two women would not calmly continue a conversation with a naked white guy running into the elevator,” Edwards said in The New York Times report. “That is violence. That is a dangerous situation that they would have to respond to.”

Eventually the naked man was cut and the dialogue was changed. 

The response from Warner Bros. human resources department was to launch an investigation that resulted in Spottiswood keeping his place with the support of a Black woman as a corporate coach to advise him. 

Following the departure of Edwards and Nayer, Spottiswood held a meeting for all writers, two of whom spoke to The New York Times on the condition of annonymity. At the meeting, two members of the Warner Bros. human resources department were there as well as Maria Rodriguez, a labor lawyer hired by the studio. 

Spottiswood reportedly grew emotional and said the following. 

“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,” Mr. Spottiswood said in his statement. “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.”

All Rise premiered on CBS in September 2019 and was something rare for the network who has been criticized for a lack of diversity. It regularly pulled in five million viewers for each episode. The show was then renewed for a second season in May.

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