Some Perspective From The Creators

A single web search for “The Black Donnellys” reveals the many websites, articles, and blogs devoted to discussions of The Black Donnellys. On these sites one can find both praise and criticism of the various artistic choices made by the show’s creators. Some viewers are drawn to TBD’s theme of “Family Above All” and understand that adherence to that principle requires their favorite characters to make choices and take actions that are hard to stomach. Other viewers can’t get past the fact that the Donnelly brothers make mistakes that would land real-life criminals in jail fast. And everybody has an opinion about the usefulness of the show’s narrator, Joey Ice Cream. But there’s more to come on Joey later. For now, we’d like to share some of insight we’ve gained over the course of The Black Donnellys’ 13 episodes and, more importantly, from reading comprehensive interviews with The Black Donnellys’ co-creators, Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco.

While both Haggis and Moresco are well-known for their Oscar-winning screenplay for the film Crash and their work on the Academy Award-winning Million Dollar Baby, they previously worked together on the television series, EZ Streets , a 1996 CBS crime drama. In fact, The Black Donnellys began as a follow-up to EZ Streets and is loosely based on real-life events from Moresco’s childhood growing up in the neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. As a result, although The Black Donnellys is not biographical and takes place in a fictional neighborhood, each of the characters, situations, and personal dilemmas have elements of truth drawn from Moresco’s own experiences.

For instance, in a March 2007 interview with PBS’s Tavis Smiley, Moresco compared the Donnelly brothers to members of the Irish mob group the Westies, many of whom were Moresco’s family members and friends. Moresco explained that The Black Donnellys is about four Irish kids who end up in that world of the Irish mafia and “just don’t know how to exist there. They’re incapable of surviving except by counting on each other”.

Similarly, in a separate interview, Haggis described The Black Donnellys as a story “about the journey that [the Donnelly brothers] face and less about the crime involved.” He noted that he and Moresco liked the idea of a coming of age story in a world where crime is the easiest way to make a living and indicated that, in each episode, they tried to put the characters into situations that no one would want to be in and then have them make choices that no one would want to have to make. The result, according to Moresco, is not organized crime, but rather a world of disorganized crime where people you love can do “monstrous things.” Each week, the Donnelly brothers (and the television audience) learn that there is a moral price to pay for each choice made and each action taken in life. Indeed, as Moresco remarked, “[y]ou don’t know what that price is going to be, but you’re going to pay it.” Now that’s a lesson we’d all do well to learn.

For more information about Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, visit:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0353673/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0604263/

For full interviews with Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, visit:

http://entertainment1.sympatico.msn.ca/At+long+last+Paul+Haggis+Black+Donnellys+debuts/TV_Guide/Interviews/Features/Articles/250207_donnellys_JR.htm?isfa=1

http://www.thescifiworld.net/mediaworld/haggis-moresco-01.htm