Thank you for your letter

I picked this up in the trivia section of  LA LAW

Series co-creator Terry Louise Fisher, former deputy district attorney for
Los Angeles County, former entertainment lawyer for 20th Century Fox, and
producer-writer for "Cagney & Lacey" (1982) , composed a form letter she
was thinking of sending to lawyers who complained about the show: "Dear
So-and-so: If I were a good lawyer, I'd still be practicing law. Instead,
I'm stuck in Hollywood, making 10 times as much money. I hope you are as
conscientious about your clients as you are about our show. Thank for your
writing."

Lawyers never enjoy themselves more than when they are disagreeing with people
and particularly each other.
It is a variation of one of Raymond Chandlers quotes about when he went to Hollywood

If my books had been any worse, I should not have
been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better,I should
not have come.


Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler did not have agood time in Hollywood but he wrote some great stuff there and it made him famous.

Raymond Chandler was notorious for his intense dislike of Alfred Hitchcock, whom he
often referred to as "that fat bastard" (typically within hearing distance of Hitchcock.) [1]

I found some more legal topics that could be developed as story lines

14 Claiming asylum
15 Neighbours
16 Pension fraud
17 Estate agents problems with
18 Problems with the elderly
19 Asylum seekers in front a a tribunal.

Legal stories and characters

I need 24 different stories as I need four an episode and enough for six episodes.

1 Torture of young child
2 Social worker involved in child abuse case going to industrial tribunal
3 Bird flu
4 Gold digging second wife
5 Letter bombs
6 Student sues university
7 Breast implants
8 Human rights car seat law
9 Boots and Viagra
10 Friendly fire
11 Money laundering
12 Protection rackets
13 Card fraud



I was thinking about four partners/ lawyers

1 Senior partner, avuncular

2 Middle aged forties type loner, single seen it all

3 woman late twenties early thirties single

4 Young keen black lawyer trying to make his mark and wants to change society

Setting

Mid sized town plenty of work of all types

Background

How to do it


I have always admired LA Law and similar US television series as they are slick and entertaining without boring the viewer as to the more mundane details of office life in a law firm

I have always been convinced that with the right set up and stories we could do a UK version that was equally as interesting and compelling as the US version. I watched a couple of episodes of LA Law the other day and was struck as to how well it has held up even after about about 15 years. It does not look dated and the stories were entertaining.

You need

1 Good story lines
2 Believable and sympathetic characters.

The format survived even a lot of the characters changed.

I am sure the US version had a large group of writers and the team discussed and corrected the script until it sparkled. To be successful in Britain they claim tat all you need is six episodes worth of material. If an idea can survive six episodes then it will be able to carry on

They ( LA Law) had a strand of stories all going at the same time. There might be as many as four stories running in one episode. The stories could carry from the criminal case to the top end high profile big money divorce.

You could see all the different lawyers and their styles. It did not matter that they jumped between the stories as it keep up the interest.

They were all resolved by the end of the programme so it was a self contained episode It must use up a lot of stories but the have a lot of writers.

I have decided to do a radio play as that if by far the best chance I have of getting the idea aired. Also there has been a very good record of plays or radio series transferring to television. Televion is hungry for new matieral but the like to know it works before they commission it. If it has been successful on radio they are taking less of a risk