Blacklist Redux : HBO/BBC FILM CHRONICLES WRITER’S FLIGHT FROM McCARTHYISM

When McCarthyism reigned in Hollywood, blacklisted screenwriters had three choices: change professions, write under another person’s name or go abroad.

Britain became a refuge for some blacklisted writers and directors. And now the British have decided to forage into that dark era of American history with “Fellow Traveler,” starring Ron Silver, Daniel J. Travanti, Hart Bochner and Imogen Stubbs, airing at 10 p.m. Sunday and 10:30 p.m. Wednesday on HBO.

The 90-minute film is about a blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter who is offered work in Britain on a children’s series. Leaving his wife and children behind, he moves to London, but his past continues to haunt him.

“ ‘ellow Traveller’ is not a drama-documentary about the blacklist,” BBC producer Michael Wearing said. “It’s much more of a story about how free you are as a writer to reflect the world as you see it without being censored.”

Silver, who plays the blacklisted screenwriter, remembered when TV aired the McCarthy hearings: “I come from a very liberal New York Jewish household. IUm an actor by calling, but politics are important to me. This story is very relevant, particularly with the Salman Rushdie and ‘Spycatcher’ affairs.”

(Rushdie, who lives in Britain, is still in seclusion after the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sentenced him to death because of his book “The Satanic Verses”; “Spycatcher,” a memoir written by a former member of Britain’s intelligence service, was banned in Britain.)

The key question, Silver said, is what are writers’ rights? “These guys didn’t break any laws. It wasn’t illegal to belong to the Communist Party. It was a very dicey time in terms of First Amendment rights. To my way of thinking, it can happen again.”

The BBC’s Wearing agreed. “The reason I wanted to do this story is its strong analogy to what’s beginning to creep into life in England,” he said. “Americans are fortunate. They have a Constitution, which has enshrined certain democratic principles that have been taken for granted in England but not guaranteed. One is to do with the freedom of speech and dissent.

“In all sorts of tacit ways, the British government is saying, ‘We’re not having that.’ It has an effect on the BBC or anyone patronizing the arts. They get wary of writers who are going to be difficult. It’s very subtly done. ‘Fellow Traveller’ is inevitably about all of us working within the system.”

Silver, who won a Tony Award for his performance in “Speed-the-Plow” two years ago, was surprised that HBO was making “Fellow Traveller” (it’s jointly produced by HBO, the BBC and the British Film Institute).

“In the U.S., we really stay away from political material,” he said. “We’re not a political society. It could be leftover from the blacklist. We’re interested in very personal stories devoid of politics.”

“Fellow Traveller” combines both, which is why it attracted the attention of “HBO Showcase” and its executive producer Briton Colin Callender.

“We want to do drama for thinking audiences,” Callender said. “ ‘Fellow Traveller’ is about an interesting and controversial subject that hasn’t been dealt with thoroughly.”

The script by Briton Michael Eaton came to HBO, and HBO suggested it to the BBC as a co-production.

‘Fellow Traveller’ is not a true story, and Silver’s character is not based on a specific blacklisted writer,” Eaton said. “However, nothing in this story couldn’t have happened.”

The former film history teacher explained: “Britain was a very unconducive place for blacklisted writers to come to. It was much easier for them in France and Italy. But it was common for blacklisted writers to write for British TV series, although most of them did it from New York. Producers of British shows would organize it for them to write using a front name.”

British director Philip Saville remembered watching the McCarthy hearings while studying Elizabethan literature at Columbia University.

“It was very hard to believe this could happen in the United States,” he said. “The American Dream was probably the greatest dream the world ever knew. And then at its peak, it soured.”