GEORGIA STARS
Powerhouse Duo Crafts Council of Dads By Ca ro l Bada r acco Padge t t
W riting team, producing partners, and married couple Tony Phelan and Joan Rater “get” each other. They work in unison—on some of the most popular TV shows in recent memory. Think ABC’s Emmy-nominated Grey’s Anatomy , CBS’s Madame Secretary , CBS legal drama series Doubt , and new this year, NBC’s drama Council of Dads , in production pre-quarantine in Savannah, GA. So when Georgia Hollywood Review spoke with the pair at this year’s Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) aTVfest in Midtown Atlanta and asked them, “In one word, what’s the best thing about collaborating with your spouse?” the two didn’t miss a beat. Phelan: “Shorthand.” Rater: “Solid.” Their latest writing collaborative, Council of Dads is based on a book by author Bruce Feiler and tells the story of a terminally ill character, Scott Perry (Tom Everett Scott), who, upon learning of his illness, carefully chooses a group of male friends to stand in as father figures for his five children following his death—realizing that no one man can fill the role. In the TV drama, which premiered on NBC during the 2019-2020 television season, the three dads chosen are veteran actor Michael O’Neill as Larry Mills (Perry’s comrade from Alcoholics Anonymous), Clive Standen as Anthony Lavelle (Perry’s longtime friend and fellow partier from younger days), and J. August Richards as Dr. Oliver Post (Perry’s doctor and his wife’s best friend). Together, this council of dads tries to help Perry’s widow, Robin, played by Sarah Wayne Callies, navigate parenting the children within their altered family reality. At SCAD aTVfest, Georgia Hollywood Review asked the council about their roles on the series and what each of their characters brings to the table in the fictional Perry family household. Of his character, Anthony Lavelle, Standen says, “I play Scott Perry’s best friend since they were teens. He’s a successful chef, he owns his own restaurant, and has a lot of flare and gusto—and passion. He wants to help keep Scott’s legacy alive at the Crab Shack, which is the big restaurant that Anthony and the Perrys own. He’s gone back there to his roots and to where he first started.” O’Neill shares this of his character, Larry Mills: “I know Scott from AA. He sponsored me and helped me greatly. And so I feel an obligation to honor that, but I don’t know if I have the skillset to do that.”
You do projects sometimes and you never know if they turn out the way you see them in your mind, but this superseded all of our expectations.
Tony Phelan and Joan Rater
The character of Dr. Oliver Post was multifaceted. Richards notes, “I play Scott’s oncologist and so I’m with him throughout the entirety of his treatment and diagnosis. And there at the end he asks me to be on the council. As with the other fathers, he finds qualities that he can trust in the event of his passing. It’s also complicated by the fact that I am his wife’s best friend, so I’ve known them for a very long time. We went to med school together, but I have a family of my own. So for me, it’s about finding the balance between being this father figure to their family and a father and husband to my own.” When asked if they’d had a chance to watch the pilot, Richards jumped in. “Once or twice! You do projects sometimes and you never know if they turn out the way you see them in your mind, but this superseded all of our expectations. For certain, I was a crying, bawling mess after watching it, and that was because of the work of these people [here].” He adds, “It’s a beautiful show and I know that people will respond to it.”
Filming for the series took place in Savannah’s Daffin Park, on the beaches of Tybee Island and the Isle of Hope, and at the Savannah Film Factory in downtown. Of the series’s Coastal Georgia setting Phelan finds, “For people who haven’t experienced what the low country looks like, and what being there is like, we really hope that the show serves as a kind of travelogue… if you turn off the sound, it’s an ad for Savannah. We fell in love with it.” Its people, too, add to the charm. “The state of Georgia has been really welcoming,” Rater says. “They love hosting TV shows and films, and they make it fun.” Phelan smiles and piggybacks on Rater’s thought, “I wasn’t in Savannah two days before somebody said, ‘Ok, best chicken biscuit. Come with me.’ Then he got into the car and drove with me there. There’s just that generosity and warmth of spirit.”
@nbccouncilofdads
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