Hollywood Reporter
September 25 – October 1, 2001 Issue

Heroic Effort

By Cynthia Littleton

Traditional network rivals band together in an unprecedented show of unity.

It started, as so many big deals in show business do, with a conference call.
Top executives at the Big Four broadcast networks held a call on the morning of Friday, Sept. 14, to try to hammer out some kind of united entertainment industry response to the devastating terrorist strikes that had been unleashed on America just three days before. They all had the impulse to do something, apart from their news coverage, to honor the victims and acknowledge the nation's staggering loss.
CBS' Leslie Moonves had talked to DreamWorks SKG partner Jeffrey Katzenberg about mounting some sort of fund-raising program. NBC's Scott Sassa and Jeff Zucker were trying to pull together a "Hollywood Reacts" special. And as usual, the network chieftains quickly got wind of their competitors' plans.

But this time, instead of strategizing against one another, they strategized on a collaborative effort that would grow into a global telethon with unprecedented reach, running simultaneously on more than 30 TV networks in the United States alone last Friday from 9-11 p.m.

At the end of the show, no less of an American icon than Clint Eastwood had declared Sept. 11 to be "the 21st century's day of infamy."
The special was viewed by 89 million people in the United States and raised more than $150 million in pledges for the September 11 Telethon Fund, which will be administered by the United Way under the direction of a board of broadcast network representatives.

The understated tribute, which originated from candle-lit stages in New York and Los Angeles, put the emphasis on the everyday people who emerged as heroes in the face of terror: the teachers who led young students to safety, the strangers who helped other strangers, the police and firefighters who rushed into the ruins of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon when everyone else was trying to escape.
Behind the scenes, the story of how the telethon was put together inside of six days is a testament to how deeply millions of people have been touched by the tragedy, network executives and celebrities included.

In the spirit of the program itself, the key players stressed that it was teamwork among the top brass and the hard work of volunteers that made "America: A Tribute to Heroes" happen.

To ensure that there would be no grandstanding, a rule was established that a $1,000 fine would be levied if executives were quoted in the media as taking credit for the idea. (No violations occurred.)

In the end, Joel Gallen, executive producer of "America: A Tribute to Heroes," would pull off in less than one week the kind of star-studded, performance-driven event that usually takes two months or more to plan.
"I've done so many live shows that took so much more time to plan, and yet this show was so stress-free," Gallen says. "I felt like there was a higher power [overseeing] us. There was an incredible karma surrounding everyone. There was not a lot of stress and worry on the stage."

Gallen, a director and veteran producer of live events, was busy editing his upcoming Columbia Pictures release, "Not Another Teen Movie," when he got a message asking him to take part in a conference call on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 15, among ABC Television Network president Alex Wallau, CBS' Moonves, Fox Television Entertainment chairman Sandy Grushow and NBC's Sassa.
"When somebody calls you and says the presidents of all four networks want to get on the phone and talk to you, you make yourself available," Gallen says.
The challenge was enormous - bring together the leading lights of the entertainment industry in a show that had to strike just the right tone or it would surely generate a torrent of criticism. Gallen, a native New Yorker, admits he had his doubts about whether it could really be done.

In the end, Gallen stuck with his gut instinct to go with a stripped-down presentation that would magnify the impact of the words and music offered by the famous faces. There were no introductions, no studio audience, not even any opening or closing credits. The musical performances and spoken word segments were short and snappy, giving the show a brisk pace that kept it from becoming too maudlin or too self-congratulatory.

"The hardest thing on that first day was trying to figure out what the show should be - thinking about it, visualizing it. It had to be just right, but what was that?" Gallen reflects.

The first thing he did was reach out to old friends and co-workers to put together a small army of volunteers to work on the show in front of and behind the camera. The response was overwhelming, Gallen says, because so many people were yearning for some way to contribute something positive amid the chaos.
Beth McCarthy, a director of "Saturday Night Live," was tapped to direct the New York segments, while Gary Lanvy signed on as a coordinating producer in New York. David Wild was recruited to serve as head writer, with contributions from such people as "Everybody Loves Raymond" creator Phil Rosenthal and Terry Edmonds. They reached out to political speechwriters in the search for the gravitas that the subject matter demanded.

The on-air talent came together quickly, as people realized the kind of unprecedented industry support the telecast would have. After being hired on Sunday, Sept. 16, Gallen had to give the network brass a progress report on the talent lineup at 2 p.m. the following day. By Tuesday, Sept. 18, all of the slots in the two-hour show had been filled.

DreamWorks' Katzenberg helped bring in movie stars, while Interscope Geffen A&M chairman Jimmy Iovine reached out to the music world.
It was a producer's dream roster: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise, Chris Rock, Robert De Niro and Clint Eastwood interspersed with music from Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Celine Dion, Limp Bizkit, Dave Matthews and Willie Nelson, among many others.
Indeed, once the word got out, there was such a response that Gallen found himself turning A-list people down. That's when George Clooney got the idea to assemble a celebrity phone bank manned by the likes of Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, Meg Ryan, Adam Sandler and Sally Field.

There was, of course, scant time for rehearsal on Thursday night and Friday afternoon before the switch was thrown on the live broadcast at 6 p.m. Los Angeles time. Gallen was ensconced in a master control booth on a stage at CBS Television City.

"It really became like a spiritual experience for me," Gallen says. "I was moved that so many people were working night and day on it. We all shared the grief and the emotion of what had happened on Sept. 11."

One of the most powerful moments on the telecast was the appearance by Will Smith and Muhammad Ali. Gallen and his team made a conscious effort to include an appeal for tolerance of other cultures and religions, and that came early on the telecast when Smith introduced Ali as "one of the greatest heroes of all time, and he is a Muslim."

Despite his struggle with Parkinson's disease, Ali spoke out to reinforce the message that most Muslims were equally outraged by the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I wouldn't be here to represent Islam if it was really how the terrorists made it look," Ali says. "It was wrong, and if I had the chance I'd do something about it."
The musical performances started out on a high note with Bruce Springsteen offering a special rendition of "My City of Ruins." Neil Young sang a heartfelt version of John Lennon's "Imagine," Tom Petty had a note of defiance in "I Won't Back Down" and Limp Bizkit showed its softer side with an acoustic version of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here." U2 and Sting weighed in via satellite from London.
Celine Dion came out of her career hiatus to belt out "God Bless America" in front of a gospel choir, while Willie Nelson closed out the show with a sing-along of "America the Beautiful."

In between Dion and Nelson, Clint Eastwood rose to the occasion with the longest spoken word passage of the show, and he went right to the heart of the reason why the fund-raising effort was so badly needed. Eastwood, who revised the passage written by political speechwriter Bob Shrum, intoned:
"It was the 21st century's day of infamy, a day that will live on in the annals of courage and patriotism.

For the intended targets were not just the symbols of America but the spirit of America.

The intended victims were all 300 million of us.

The terrorists foresaw a nation fearful, doubtful, ready to retreat.

The terrorists who wanted 300 million victims dead instead are going to get 300 million heroes, 300 million Americans with broken hearts and unbreakable hopes for our country and our future."

BACK