Hollywood Tea Partiers create their own TV show

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Those who belong to the conservative movement known as the Tea Party are acutely aware of the power of popular culture, so they have been cautiously delving into the creation of entertainment that promotes their values. It usually manifests itself in snippets of online political parody. Coming Sunday, though, is perhaps the most ambitious effort yet: A "TV show" created by a couple of Tea Partiers who have formed their own production company.

The one-hour drama is called "Courage, New Hampshire," and it premiers Sunday at a movie theater in Monrovia, Calif. Co-hosting the red carpet activities are "Saturday Night Live" alumna Victoria Jackson and radio personality Tony Katz, both of whom regularly speak at Tea Party rallies.

"Courage" has the pacing and feel of a soap opera, though its set in Colonial America. While its creators are making it as a TV show, there's no distribution partner, so it's going straight to DVD after the premiere.

The company, Colony Bay, is also trying to strike deals with conservative online TV outlets, like Glenn Beck's GBTV and Kelsey Grammer's Right Network, and are seeking a television VOD partner.

Colony Bay was founded by James Patrick Riley and Jonathan Wilson, who started in Hollywood as an assistant in agency ICM's motion picture literary department. They met when Wilson was forming the Pasadena chapter of Tea Partiers and he recruited Riley, an experienced Patrick Henry impersonator, to perform at an event.

Riley, the wealthy owner of Riley's American Heritage Farm, a 760-acre apple and pear farm in Oak Glen, Calif. financed the first episode of "Courage" for $120,000. His money and that of other backers will fund future episodes. The first episode was filmed on the farm, where Riley has dedicated 55 acres to "living-history" educational tourism.

While several cast and crew are Tea Partiers, some were hired through traditional Hollywood channels, so Wilson laid down the law. "Our policy during production was: 'no politics on set.'"

Outside of college courses and his Patrick Henry roles, Riley is a TV novice, but he nevertheless wrote, directed and played a part in "Courage," and did an admirable enough job of creating characters an audience cares about and a narrative that will keep them curious as to how things will shake out.

References to the country's founding are a staple at Tea Party rallies that are attended by an estimated 9 million people, so a show about Colonial America ought to appeal to them.

The first episode of Courage is subtitled "The Travail of Sarah Pine" and stars Alexandra Oliver as a colonial woman who accuses a British soldier of the crime of "bastardy." Riley said that realism was paramount because "Hollywood tends to make over the past in its own image - 18th century women become raging feminists; statesmen become agnostics or rakes."

Riley said he didn't even bother pitching the show to traditional TV outlets.

"Most TV sitcoms and dramas tend to depict conservatives and traditionalists and people of faith as halfwits. That tactic lost its edge about four decades ago and we think it's time to turn the tables," he said.