Write On: 'Lawmen: Bass Reeves' Showrunner Chad Feehan

“I grew up as a huge fan of Westerns but the reality of the
landscape at the time was that it was incredibly diverse. And
we've rarely seen that diversity on screen. I feel incredibly
fortunate and humbled by the opportunity to show what life was
really like in Indian territory in 1875. That it was a melting
pot of cultures and races. It speaks to the beauty of
Reconstruction,” says Chad Feehan, showrunner for Lawmen:
Bass Reeves on Paramount+. The show is part of the highly
successful Taylor Sheridan television landscape, that includes
shows like Yellowstone and 1883.


On today’s episode, I speak to Chad about taking on the
historical figure of Bass Reeves (played by David Oyelowo), who
lived during America’s Reconstruction period that is rarely
depicted in film or TV. Though Chad and Bass come from very
different backgrounds, Chad says he was able to write the
character of Bass by focusing on the big emotions the two men
shared. He gives this advice about writing people different than
yourself: 


“Tap into your deepest emotions and find a way to relate them to
what the character is going through. I think a lot of times when,
you start writing, you try to imagine emotions, right? But the
range of emotions that we all feel is relatively universal. They
just take different shapes and sizes, right? We all know what
heartbreak is, we all know what joy is. Tap into that and then
transpose it into a situation that the character is also
experiencing, if that makes sense. I learned about sudden loss
with my mom. I've learned about deep-seated overwhelming love
through my children and that emotion is universal,” he
says. 


To hear more about Chad Feehan’s background, working on the FX
show, Ray Donovan, and his overall writing process, listen to the
podcast.