Months before, every other broadcast and cable company turned down the show about three Chicago families dealing with the fatal police shooting of an unarmed Black man.
In the last several years, as fatal police shootings of unarmed Black men have gone viral on social media, such shows as “The Red Line,” “Seven Seconds” and Fox’s “Shots Fired” have attempted to shift expectations by showcasing the effect of brutality cases on victims’ families, the police force and the judicial system.
To them, the eight-episode arc — about how a cop (Noel Fisher), a victim’s family (Noah Wyle and Aliyah Royale) and a Black woman running for city council (Emayatzy Corinealdi) handle the aftermath of a police shooting — was best served one piece at a time.
“Working on ‘Seven Seconds’ really gave me an opportunity to share some of the things that I’ve seen on the street and add to the series real insight into the culture of a police department in a major city in America,” Shanks, who also wrote an episode of “Shots Fired,” told HuffPost.
Writer David Shanks on his time as a cop in Chicago
It was a real-life police shooting that opened doors for filmmakers Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Bythewood.
