JW PRODUCTIONS
JW PRODUCTIONS
Did you ever hear the one about VIVA LAUGHLIN – the so-bad-it’s-good, murder-mystery-musical series for CBS… starring Hugh Jackman? In 2006, I had just been promoted to a Development Executive role at BBC Worldwide, whereupon I was handed the format rights to a weirdly compelling 6-episode BBC series called BLACKPOOL (later retitled VIVA BLACKPOOL for BBC America), starring David Morrissey as a down-on-his luck father and husband who purchases a rundown casino in a seaside town as a last ditch effort to save his family. Oh, and occasionally he and his brood break into songs by Elvis Presley, Elvis Costello, and some well-known British New Wave groups. Along with the teams at BBC Worldwide, Sony TV, and Hugh Jackman’s production company, I helped sell the format to CBS and, later, developed and produced the adapted show. The most surreal moment of my career came as I was sitting alongside other producers, watching a helicopter land on the rooftop of Don Laughlin’s casino in Laughlin, Nevada, when suddenly Hugh Jackman steps out singing the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” and a line of cocktail waitresses encircle him performing a choreographed dance number. You can still find visual evidence of the offending dance number on YouTube [link here]. Too bad we only aired 2 episodes before we were abruptly cancelled; we shot 8 episodes, and by episode 4 the show was finally hitting its stride.