Tea Partiers Create Their Own TV Show and Production Company

[Valin]

Hollywood Reporter:

Paul Bond
6/23/11

Hollywood tends to "depict conservatives and traditionalists and people of faith as halfwits," says founder of Colony Bay, which will debut its first project, a drama set in Colonial America, at a premiere on Sunday.

Those who belong to the conservative movement known as the Tea Party are acutely aware of the power of popular culture, so they have been cautiously delving into the creation of entertainment that promotes their values. It usually manifests itself in snippets of online political parody. Coming Sunday, though, is perhaps the most ambitious effort yet: A “TV show” created by a couple of Tea Partiers who have formed their own production company.

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Courage has the pacing and feel of a soap opera, though its set in Colonial America. While its creators are making it as a TV show, there’s no distribution partner, so it’s going straight to DVD after the premiere. The company, Colony Bay, is also trying to strike deals with conservative online TV outlets, like Glenn Beck’s GBTV and Kelsey Grammer’s Right Network, and are seeking a television VOD partner.

Colony Bay was founded by James Patrick Riley and Jonathan Wilson, who started in Hollywood as an assistant in ICM’s motion picture literary department and became director of development for Peter Hyams, working on films like End of Days with Arnold Schwarzenegger. They met when Wilson was forming the Pasadena chapter of Tea Partiers and he recruited Riley, an experienced Patrick Henry impersonator, to perform at an event.

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References to the country’s founding are a staple at Tea Party rallies that are attended by an estimated 9 million people, so a show about Colonial America ought to appeal to them. Leaning primarily on Tea Partiers for your audience, though, is a risky business, as the makers of Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 learned when they tapped the political movement to market their film, which opened strong but petered out quickly.

Wilson and Riley, though, are hoping they have a show that will attract history buffs of all political persuasions, much like HBO did with its Emmy-winning John Adams miniseries and Mel Gibson did with The Patriot, a feature film that earned $113 million domestically 11 years ago.

The most seasoned cast member in Courage is Basil Hoffman, who had a recurring role on Hill Street Blues and other TV shows as well as film roles in Old Dogs, Night Shift, My Favorite Year and Ordinary People. Hoffman said at a Los Angeles Tea Party rally last year: “I’m here in defense of America, of free speech, low taxes, liberty.”

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