How ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ gets history wrong

in 1987, I wrote and directed the film, “Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8,” which received an ACE award that year for best cable movie. I had initially been hired by CBS to make a TV movie based on the transcripts of this famous political trial, as earlier I had written and directed “Katherine,” a successful and controversial TV movie, which tracked the radicalization of a young woman during the late 60s. Abbie Hoffman, while still underground, wrote in the Village Voice that this was the best portrayal of the movement of that time. After CBS read my script, they thought it was too political and critical of the American government, and they decided to not make the movie. Years later, an article appeared in TV Guide about the best scripts never made and the first one mentioned was mine. I got a call from the new HBO that they wanted to make it.

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