CarrollBlog

Once when I was in Hollywood, my agent arranged a meeting with an important television executive who liked my work. I was told this was a very big deal and that I should be excited. I met the woman at a nice restaurant and we chatted over a great, obscenely expensive meal. She asked if I knew about her company. I had to admit I did not, but covered my ignorance by saying I lived in Europe and didn't see much US television. She was cool about that and filled me in on what they were doing, their future projects, etcetera. When she appeared to be finished, she looked both ways to make sure no one nearby was listening. She leaned in closer so she wouldn't have to speak above a whisper. "But there's one project that we're all tremendously excited about. And that's the one I'm here to talk to you about." She was an impressive and obviously high powered professional, but her voice was pure little girl excited now. She had something huge up her sleeve and wanted me to be involved! I was all ears.
"I can sum it up for you in one word, Jonathan." But instead of saying that one word, she fell silent. She smiled smugly because she knew she held the best cards in the deck and was about to lay them down on the table.
Finally I couldn't take the suspense anymore and asked, "One word? What is it?"
"Bhopal."
Stunned, I was speechless. Eventually I managed to croak, "Bhopal? You mean the town in India where Union Carbide leaked the poison gas and killed scores of people?"
She nodded sagely a long time. "We're going to do a four part mini-series about it."
With no tact or diplomacy I instinctively blurted out, "But that's a *horrible* story. All those poor people killed because a big company didn't care enough to take the proper precautions. What kind of television show can you make of that?"
"Huge. It'll win every award."
"But who would want to watch something so depressing? And four parts?"
She glared at me. Her furious eyes said if I opened my mouth one more time with one more negative word, I'd have to pay for lunch.