TelevisionAcademy.com 37Ayelet Waldman felt an immediate
bond with the source material. At age
fourteen, she was sexually assaulted.
“I didn’t say anything to anyone, even
though I considered myself a forceful,
confident person,” she recalls. Waldman
went to Harvard Law School and
became a criminal defense attorney
with a focus on women’s issues, then
went on to write books such as A Really
Good Day, Love and Treasure and the
Mommy-Track Mystery series. When
she read the article, she knew she had
found her next project.
“I went to my friend Sarah Timberman and
said, ‘You have to read this, and let’s make it into
a television show,’” she recalls. “She did and said,
‘Hell, yeah.’” Grant, who won an Oscar in 2001 for
her screenplay for Erin Brockovich, also brought
the story to Timberman (Justified, Elementary).
Meanwhile, veteran journalist Katie Couric joined in,
participating early on in lunch meetings with the group.
“We’re all women who have thought about and want to work toward a
vision of social justice,” Waldman says. “We want to make a difference. That
motivates us.”
Waldman wanted to get one significant man involved in the creative
process: Michael Chabon, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The
Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, as well as the acclaimed The Yiddish
Policemen’s Union and Wonder Boys. He also happens to be her husband of
more than twenty-five years.
(Ultimately, the executive producers included Grant, Timberman,
Waldman, Chabon, Couric, Carl Beverly, Lisa Cholodenko, Richard Tofel, Neil
Barsky, Robyn Semien and Marie.)
“We’ve been trying to work on projects for a while, and this seemed
ideal,” Chabon explains over the phone. Listening on another line, Waldman
chimes in, “And the story is incredibly compelling. It’s easy to see the appeal
of the piece and impulse to turn it into a series.”
Their collaborative process, they say, is a rigid one. “We outline and hash
everything together. I write the first draft and Michael writes the second
draft and raises the level to exquisite perfection — and then I roll back the
perfection in the third draft,” Waldman says. (Chabon jokes, “Yup, she said it!”)
They worked a bit on the pilot and also cowrote the fourth episode.
Recreating traumatic real-life events for the screen posed a challenge.
Chabon admits that certain facts and events didn’t necessarily present
themselves in the right order. On a more pressing level, he says, “You’re
handling sensitive material and presenting acts of violence against women,
and you have to walk a fine line between accuracy and exploitation. You want
to avoid anything that can be interpreted as sexualizing and titillating in some
way.”Many survivors were consulted, but out of
respect for their anonymity, all the names and
identifying characteristics were altered.
The producers turned to Dever to portray
Marie, the young woman at the heart of the story,
who was ostracized from her community after her
rape accusation was deemed a lie. Timberman had
worked with her on Justified.
“She has such tremendous qualities of
vulnerabilities and is an absolute shape-shifter,”
Grant raves, noting that Marie is light-years
away from the hyperverbal high schooler Dever
played in the hit indie film Booksmart. “Kaitlyn
really embodied a character who’s consistently
determined to find the best version of her life, even
as the walls start to close in around her.”
But it’s the whip-smart detectives who are the
true superheroines of Unbelievable. Uniting from
separate departments, they never once snipe at
each other as they work days and nights to crack
the complicated case. (The assailant left behind
noDNA.)“Weoftenseewomen on TV or in the media that are backbiting,”
Waldman says. “Because these women worked together in ways that, frankly,
men do, they solved the crime. There’s something quintessentially female
about their cooperative impulse that really adds to the story.”
WeverandCollette,bothEmmywinnersinthecomedycategory—for
NurseJackieandTheUnitedStatesofTara, respectively—disappear into
their unassuming roles. “My gosh, what they brought into the relationship,
the push-pull between these two women and the quiet collaboration, is
spectacular,” Grant adds. “They found a way to make the pairing work and
really complement each other.”What should viewers take away from a compelling
yet emotionally searing drama that examines the
repercussions of sexual assault? “I hope people come
away with an awareness of the inconsistent and unreliable
way in which many rape investigations are conducted
across the country,” Grant notes. “What Marie went through
is not at all unique.”
Waldman, a self-confessed TV binger, recommends that viewers watch
a coupleepisodesata timetoprocessalltheinformationandthinkaboutthe
issues—and do a little self-reflection. “People should look in the mirror and
think, ‘Would I have reacted in the same way as these foster mothers?’ They
might change their minds a few times.”
Chabon has loftier expectations. “I’d be satisfied if this show contributed
to changing the conversation around women and believing women and
believing claims of sexual assault and the processing of rape kits and how
assault is handled within families,” he says. “I’d like to see that. Even if it helps
in a little way.” —Mara ReinsteinBETH DUBBER/NETFLIX; REENIE RASCHKE
Susannah GrantMichael Chabon and
Ayelet Waldman