Neal Baer GSE '79, GSA '82, HMS '96 (Writer & Producer, ER, LAW AND ORDER: SVU)
By Amit Samuel
The Wizard of Awes.
Downed power lines. Great. I am already late to the first Harvardwood Salon. Now, if I were Dr. Doug Ross (played by some actor named George Clooney) from "ER" in a Neal Baer-penned script, I would be in a tuxedo, suavely saving the day and making it to the Salon in the nick of time. Instead, I am stuck in traffic wearing a crummy pair of jeans and a dark t-shirt that hides the stains of last night's dinner.
Before "ER" – heck, before puberty – Neal Baer spent his time in elementary school like every other kid: networking. As luck would have it, one of his schoolyard buddies grew up to be the producer of "China Beach." Perhaps remembering Neal's prodigious gift for cursive handwriting, John Wells gave Neal a job writing for "China Beach". Neal's first episode was promptly nominated for a Writer's Guild award for Best Drama.
According to Neal, "it all went downhill after that". He went so far down that he landed at Harvard Medical School. Far away from the klieg lights of Hollywood, Neal scoped and sutured for three years. Then the call came. John Wells had a new pilot, a pilot written by HMS alum Michael Crichton.
Before he knew it, Neal was spending his days doing rounds and his nights spinning yarns. One of his classmates found Neal's off-hour activities so interesting that he began helping Neal on his short films. Eventually this classmate, David Foster, went to work on the show "Gideon's Crossing" and is now the executive producer of "House, MD".
Neal is currently the showrunner of the highest rated drama on NBC, "Law & Order: SVU". The brightest star in the "Law & Order" constellation, "SVU" is a weekly exercise in thoughtful scripting. Each episode explores difficult social and moral questions that transcend easy answers. Especially with medical topics, just like when he was writing for "ER", Neal works hard on getting the facts right. Each episode is not just entertainment; for many it's an education about issues that carry some social stigma and, consequently, some level of misinformation. From AIDS to underground (on the "down-low") gay black sex, "SVU" addresses issues with facts and without judgment.
In addition to his TV gig, Neal is currently working on a narrative adaptation of the documentary "The Education of Shelby Knox". The movie follows a teen's transformation from conservative Southern Baptist to staunch liberal feminist, fighting for the sexual rights of women and homosexuals.
In his spare time, Neal works on an art project in Africa. Providing cameras to African youths, the project, "The House is Small but the Welcome is Big" (www.venice-arts.org), is already in its third year. It gives the youths an artistic outlet, an opportunity to photograph their life.
Closer to home, and in addition to leading the inaugural Harvardwood Salon, Neal has guest lectured at USC, Stanford Business School, and the Graduation School of Education at Harvard. Next winter, Neal will teach an entire class on Social Documentary at Colorado College.
Neal's first love, though, is still TV. He is a self- professed "confector" who loves the pace of television. For writers just getting started, he advises having two spec scripts of shows that you really like. Neal didn't actually have a spec script for his first job. If you spent more time networking in the 4th grade, maybe you wouldn't need one either.
I did finally make it to the Salon. As the sun went down, the participants sat and listened, enthralled by a man doing what he does best: telling stories that provoke and inspire.