Photo courtesy of Chuck Hodes/AMC
61st Street, an 8-episode dramatic series on which Jamie Kalven worked as consultant, premiered on April 10 on AMC+ and ALLBLK.
The Invisible Institute hosted the writer’s room for the first few weeks of production of the television show. At an April screening of the first episode, a panel discussed the process of creating “61st Street.” Below, an excerpt from the Block Club article by Maxwell Evans covering both the show and the panel:
“From the jump, the ‘61st Street’ writers aimed not to write ‘a generic urban police procedural,’ but instead wanted ‘to be really attentive to the particularities of the South Side,’ Invisible Institute founder and series consultant Jamie Kalven said.
Kalven said the series allowed him to take creative liberties in storytelling not afforded to him in his reporting, which has included coverage of Laquan McDonald’s murder and Harith Augustus’ killing — both at the hands of Chicago Police officers.
‘Chicago is a microcosm of everything,’ [Andrene Ward-Hammond, who plays Norma Johnson, the mother of the main character] said. ‘Chicago is not different than every other neighborhood. We have the same experiences, we just have them in different cities.’”