William Blinn

In his four-hour interview, William Blinn (1937-2020) talks about some of his first writing for television in a variety of dramatic genres for such series as Bonanza, Here Comes the Brides, and The Interns. He speaks thoroughly about writing the teleplay for the landmark television movie Brian's Song, for which he won an Emmy and a Peabody Award. For Brian's Song, he talks about the casting of the telefilm, researching the real-life people on which it was based, and the audience reaction to the movie. He details his work on the popular 1970s series The Rookies and Starsky and Hutch. For Starsky, Blinn describes his creation of the series and talks about the 2004 feature film adaptation. Blinn speaks in great detail about his work as the head writer of the landmark television miniseries Roots. He talks about working with Roots author Alex Haley on the miniseries outline, talks about cast members, discusses many of the miniseries' dramatic moments, and offers his opinion of its legacy. He also talks about producing the popular series Eight Is Enough and Fame, describing the ups and downs of working on both of these shows. Additionally, he speaks about his teleplay for the movie A Question of Love, one of the first television dramas involving a lesbian theme. Gary Rutkowski conducted the interview on October 7, 2005 in Encino, CA.