The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 18

The Atlanta Journal WEEKEND Th Atlanta Constitution 9, 1985 19-A Movie talk to us and if you have any trouble getting accurate information from the police, come to me. I want you to have the Young said he had no further contact with Mann. "When I started to write this, I felt very lonely," Mann said. "I thought no body going to like this. I 1.

Back in Los Angeles, an independent production company called Finnegan Associates joined Rafshoon and Mann to produce the film. The company is a partnership of the husband and wife team of William and Patricia Finnegan, and producer Sheldon Pinchuk. A CBS spokeswoman said the first draft of Mann's script was submitted to the network in 1983. After CBS vice presi (P dent Mills read it, the project was transferred from the specials division to Mills' TV movie department. But Mills wanted Mann to rewrite the script.

'I was looking for balance' "From a creative point of view," Mills said, "I was looking for balance. My im Abby Mann disagreed with "i prosecution after attending part of Williams' trial in Atlanta pression was that it was slanted more toward the defendant's point of view than toward the prosecutors or the mothers (of the victims)." By that, Mills said he meant not that Prosecutor Lewis Slaton (played by Rip Torn, left), confers at defense table with adviser Chet Dettlinger Martin Sheen, center), and defense lawyer Alvin Binder (Jason Robards) the script was biased in favor of Williams, but that it needed more focus on the pros ecution and mothers for dramatic pur "I Drobablv expressed to him the nov poses. Mills said that before CBS gave a final go-ahead on production, Mann wrote "three or four" drafts of the script at the Continued From Page 1-A Mann said that B. Donald Grant, president of CBS Entertainment, and Harvey Shephard, senior vice president for programs, came to lunch at Mann's house in Beverly Hills in an effort to enlist him. Mann expressed reluctance, though he didn't give CBS a firm refusal.

1 Rafshoon encountered other problems through the summer of 1981. Although he and CBS originally saw the movie as a favorable treatment of Atlanta's response to the tragedy, Rafshoon said he was having difficulty eliciting cooperation from then-Mayor Maynard Jackson and Lee Brown, Atlanta's public safety commissioner. Jackson, in fact, wrote a stinging letter to Sofronski in July 1981, in which he accused the network of "rotten timing, profoundly bad taste and rank, avaricious exploitation. The door of my administration is shut to this project and to anyone peddling it." Meantime in Atlanta, Williams had been charged with the murders of Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne. The CBS project was in limbo as legal proceedings began.

Mann still had not agreed to write the script. Early in 1982, with the Williams trial in progress, Mann went to Florida for a vacation after he asked a friend and collaborator of his, William Attaway, whose screenwriting credits include "The Hustler," to go to Atlanta to see the trial. 'What we've been told isn't' Attaway, 74, called Mann and told him, as Mann recalls it, that "what we've been told about this isn't what it is." Mann agreed to come to Atlanta and take a look. He arrived in February 1982, during the cross-examination of Williams. Mann said he quickly decided that Williams was not, as the prosecution maintained, a Je-kyll and Hyde.

Mann said he telephoned Rafshoon and said, "I'm very concerned about what I've seen here." Rafshoon, according to Mann, "felt 1,000 percent different than I did. He thought everything was OK." Mann prevailed. Rafshoon said later that he and Mann "started looking into it and a lot of things that didn't make lot of sense." Mann agreed to take on the project. This appears to have been the thematic turning point for "The Atlanta Child Murders." The movie that finally would be filmed in the summer of 1984 casts doubt on Williams' guilt and is an unflattering portrait of the police investigation into the series of murders. Mann, 57, has impressive credits.

He won an Academy Award for the screenplay for a 1961 film, "Judgment at Nuremberg," which dealt with the Nazi war crime trials. He won an Emmy Award for writing "The Marcus-Nelson Murders," a 1973 TV movie that evolved into the "Ko-jak" series on CBS. Mixed reception for King film elty of that issue and the fact that it had network request. not been really tested in a asmon mat it was put, to the test here in Georgia," Whatley said. He can be a stubborn fellow.

Mills Mann said he also interviewed prose said, adding that "I still feel we did not get enough of the mothers in." cutors, police officers and Fulton County The movie is the property of the pro Superior Court Judge Cooper to ducers. Mills said that CBS agreed to buy prepare his script. Fulton County prosecutors ana tne rights to two runs of the movie over four years. Mills did not disclose the fee paid leaders of the police task force said they had little contact with Mann. Although Jackson and Brown had geles area and in Sacramento, Calif.

The bridge that represents the Jackson Parkway Bridge in the movie is in Sacramento. -Mann said the miniseries wasn't filmed" Georgia because William Finnegan calculated that it would be cheaper to filnHn California. CBS scheduled the miniseries tojatr this month during the February ratings sweeps. Networks commonly schedule attractive shows for sweeps months to help their affiliate stations, because the rating services compile detailed statistics about viewing habits during sweeps rates usually are based on thtfse compilations. As is the case with many sweeps week contenders, CBS has been heavily promoting the film, using the general theme, "The case is closed, but the mystery continues." On Jan.

14, CBS screened "The Atlanta Child Murders" for TV critics in Los Angeles, and provided Mann, Rafshoont Robards and Levels for interviews. Mann told the group he had "grpve doubts" about Williams' guilt and 'criticized the use of fiber evidence in the case. The producers have been involveTin promoting the film in other ways as weil. maintained a hands-off attitude toward the movie, Jackson's successor, Andrew Young, said that he phoned Mann "over two years ago" and urged him not to proceed. "I tried to convince him not to do it," Young said.

"I said, 'I really hope you by CBS. Rafshoon said the movie cost about $8 million to make. The network license fee normally covers about 90 percent of the production cost. Producers generally hope to recoup their loss by selling their programs later to syndication on TV stations and through foreign sales. "There's a great deal of interest in this in other countries," Mann said.

John Erman was signed to direct "The Atlanta Child Murders." The sizable cast would include Jason Robards, Rip Torn, Martin Sheen, James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, Gloria Foster and Ruby Dee. Calvin Levels, who would gain a 1984 Tony nomination for his Broadway debut in "Open Admissions," was signed to play Wayne Williams. don't do this, but if you do, I hope you will 1 sell Means, Indians who had led the occupation of Wounded Knee, S.D., in 1973. A planned dramatization of that case never materialized. In Atlanta, Mann befriended Williams defense attorney Alvin Binder, private investigator Chet Dettlinger and Camille Bell, the mother of one of the murder victims.

All three would later become important characters in his film. Binder said he talked with Mann on several occasions but was not involved in the TV production. Ms. Bell, who worked with the defense team in the Williams trial, later became a paid consultant to the movie and is listed in the credits. She said that she "spent four or five days introducing Mann to people." Ms.

Bell's imprint is visible on the film. Her opinion of former Mayor Maynard Jackson, for example, is that he was "disinterested, aloof and patronizing." And that is the way he is painted in the film. Dettlinger, a former Atlanta police official who was critical of the child murders investigation and who also worked with the Williams defense team, was hired as another consultant to the movie. Dettlinger theories represented Dettlinger spent several months in California while the film was being made. His theories are well-represented in the movie, among them his belief that the killings did not stop with Williams' arrest, that the fiber evidence against Williams was suspect and that the investigation was mishandled from the start.

Ms. Bell and Dettlinger have declined to say what they were paid. However, Sirlena Cobb, the mother of slaying victim Chris Richardson, said she was paid "approximately Jl.OOO" for signing a release allowing her name and 'story to be used in the film. She said she believes some other mothers were paid more. On a later trip to Atlanta, Mann sought out Lynn Whatley, the attorney who handled Williams' unsuccessful appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Whatley said his discussions with Mann centered partly on the fiber evidence that played a key role in Williams' conviction. As it regularly does with docudramas, CBS assigned the six-member "drama based on fact" unit of the network's program practices department to research the script for accuracy and balance. George Schweitzer, CBS vice president for communications, said that Kit Anderson, director the unit at the time, spent "an ex tended period" in Atlanta early last year. He said she interviewed people involved in the child murders investigation and examined the transcript of Williams' trial. The goal, he said, was to ensure a balanced program, "Obviously, the Interpretation of history is subjective," Schweitzer added, "depending on what part you play in the historical process." Ms.

Anderson resigned from CBS last month to take a job with the Lorimar production studio. Several attempts to reach her by telephone were unsuccessful. Filming was done in California The movie was filmed in the Los An- Henri Bollinger, a publicist hired by Finnegan Associates, said last week heon-tacted Harvard Law School sevjral months ago and suggested that they do something on the missing and murdered children's cases. A Harvard Law School forum on questions surrounding the fiber evidence against Williams was held Tuesday. "The issues I have raised are so important that they're going to discuss them at Harvard Law School," Mann said.

He also noted two weeks ago there would be "a very explosive thing from a very important paper, which I believe will support my viewpoint." Last Sunday, the Washington Post ran a story on a draft opinion by a Georgia Supreme Court justice which suggested the Williams conviction should be overturned. The justice later voted with the majority to uphold the conviction. SUNDAY: Abby Mann has said he did not change a line from Wayne Willipms' trial, only telescoped testimony. But he did. A look at the movie and the record.

1 I Mann also wrote and produced "King," an NBC miniseries that chronicled the life of Martin Luther King. That miniseries got a' mixed reception from former associates the civil rights leader, some of whom It that Mann had given too much empha-ss to the role that whites played in the movement. Mann describes his politics as "revolutionary," and he has demonstrated a particular interest in American jurisprudence. "The Marcus-Nelson Murders," based on a real case in New York, dramatized efforts tp free a young man wrongly accused of murder. In 1974, Mann attended part of the federal trial of Dennis Banks and Rus- Cerald Rafshoon had an Atlanta background, and an interest in movie production Senate Governor's 'team' in Legislature muscles in again for quick results Mir yS limn Continued From Page 1-A wall now take up the Senate version of the bill, the governor's plan faces tougher scrutiny.

While the bill is expected to pass in the lower house, ilj likely will undergo changes. Among the 180 representatives, several key members are less than enthusiastic about the program's (640 million price tag. Speaker Tom Murphy (D-Bre-men), Chairman Ben Barron Ross (D-Llncolnton) of the Education Committee and Majority Leader Al Burruss (D-Marietta) also have expressed concern about the degree of authority the governor's bill gives to state Board of Education. The bill authorizes the board to enact some of the program's key reforms, including a statewide curriculum, graduation requirements, annual evaluations of teachers and a career ladder that would reward outstanding teachers with higher Although the Senate bill was amended to include legislative oversight of the board's activities, some House members want to bring the bbard under the stronger Administrative Procedures Act, giving lawmakers the authority to review or veto all its regulations or policies. House Education Committee members have also pressed for more data about the cost to the state of extending kindergarten from a half-day to a full-day program.

Attached to the Senate version of the bill were four other amendments introduced on the floor, including one that speaks to a concern raised initially by Murphy. Murphy's complaint focused on a provision that would authorize the state Board of Education to suspend local school officials, and even take over the local school system, if the board decided the schools were not performing up to state standards. acute understanding of the buBget. "It's one of his strongest suit? as governor," Walker added. knows the big items, and he knows the small items.

And when helisays this thing can be funded, the legislators have confidence in him. 'And that helps." For many complaints, however, the governor's floor leaders rely on Rusty Sewell, executive counsel to the governor, who has emerged as a key player in smoothing out the bill's sticking points. On a daily basis, the floor leaders meet with the governor and his staff to go over any problems they're having in getting bills passed. These days, the main topic of discussion is the education bill. In attendance usually are the governor, Sewell and Sewell's assistant Rick Standi.

Sometimes they are joined by chief administrative officer Tom Perdue or staff members of the Office of Planning and Budget. As the governor's chief priority, the subject of education is occupying a large portion of Harris' timei "The governor sees dozens of legis-! lators every day, and he takes every opportunity to plug the education program," said press secretary Bar-1 bara Morgan. "If there's an opening' he sticks his foot in." When Walker hears from leja lators or constituents complammg; about any portion of the he e- quently jots off a memo to Sewelt to see whether something can be! changed in the bill. "We go to Rusty office two or three times a day," Walker The idea is to give in on theJiU tie points, and hold fast on the tiii ones By Jane O. Hansen Start Wrltsr Sen.

Jimmy Hodge Timmons (D- Blakely), like any good legislator, had laid the groundwork to get his amendment affixed to the education reform bill. But he never had a chance. Like a bad boy sent to the principal's office, Timmons was summoned to Gov. Joe Frank Harris' office Thursday after the governor got wind of what he was up to. A sheepish Timmons returned from the woodshed and announced to his col- leagues that not only would there be no amendment, but that he was "going to vote for this thing and my hand will go up faster than anyone's." "I guess Hodge saw the light," said Sen.

John Foster (D-Cornelia), chairman of the Senate Education Committee. It was one more example of what a well-honed, tightly knit network of political operatives can accomplish working in concert to get a bill passed. The core of the network that pushed the governor's education bill to a unanimous vote Friday in the Senate and will try to do the same in the House consists of six men who share wood-paneled offices on the bottom floor of the Capitol. A simple brass plaque identifies them as the governor's floor leaders. The governor calls them his "team." On the Senate side are Roy Barnes (D-Mableton) and his assistants Nathan Dean (D-Rockmart) and Paul Trulock (D-Climax).

The three House members handling the governor's legislation are Larry CHERYL BRAYStatt Sen. Roy Barnes reacts to the passage of governor's bill AMENDMENT WAS SHOT DOWN Sen. Jimmy Hodge Timmons Walker (D-Perry) and assistants Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) and Jimmy Benefield (D-Jonesboro). Together they have so far snuffed out almost every fire threatening the governor's education bill. When need be, they have called in the governor himself to confront or cajole an errant lawmaker.

With Timmons, it was Trulock who rushed into action Thursday to ward off trouble. By midmorning. Timmons, whose had sought an amendment supporting vocational-technical instruction at the eighth-grade level, was sitting in the governor's office with Harris and Lt. Gov. Zell Miller.

Walker said the key to Harris' early success on the education issue is the force with which he has conveyed to legislators that he is determined to get his bill passed. Furthermore, Harris has an Sen. Horace Tate (D-Atlanta) raised several concerns. "I will say to you now that we are woefully understaffed with the number of black educators who are not being employed," Tate said. "And I say to you it is not because they are not qualified or cannot be found." Tate said he also objected to the use of a test to hold children back from entering the first grade.

"I want to make certain that kindergarten children who do not pass the assessment will not be mistreated, branded or labeled," he said. But like the other senators, Tate called the bill a unique opportunity to move the state's educational system from "next to last among states to one that will make us no longer ashamed. Barnes said the amendment would change that provision to leave the enforcement of the standards up to the local Superior Court. Before the Senate vote, Sen. John Foster (D-Cornelia), chairman of the Senate Education Committee, on his colleagues to put aside the "pettiness of local politics" and embrace the bill for the good of the state.

"Education in our glorious past was the great emancipator." Foster said. "And yet, education in our recent past, due to our apathy, indifference and fear was on the road to being the great enslaver of young minds through ignorance. We will begin to change that today, because we must." While almost every senator who spoke offered nothing but accolades,.