Creating 'Three Rivers'

Native Pittsburghers sometimes ask me why a TV show would film here, and the tone is often such that the implication is "We're not worthy, why would they pick us?"

I'm also interested in "Why Pittsburgh?" but not because we're not worthy. I'm just always curious in the process that results in a TV show being set or filmed here. Often there's a story behind it.

In the case of "Three Rivers," the fall CBS medical drama set in Pittsburgh, executive producer/series creator Carol Barbee said a confluence of factors led her to our city.

Barbee (pictured, below), a veteran of CBS series "Jericho," "Swingtown" and "Judging Amy" -- was working on developing a medical show for CBS. At the same time, an executive at director Curtis Hanson's film company was teaching a seminar at the University of Southern California. Part of the course required students to pitch ideas.

Steve Boman, a former transplant coordinator and Chicago newspaper reporter, pitched a medical drama set at a transplant hospital. Boman was paid for the pitch and Hanson's company got in touch with Barbee.

"When I heard the thing about transplants, I knew what I'd do with transplants. I'd watched documentaries about hospitals and there was a transplant in the documentary. I said I'd do it from three points of view: Donor, recipient, doctor. Each one was so compelling."

So Barbee was in business with Hanson's company, which filmed "Wonder Boys" in Pittsburgh a few year ago.

Barbee had never visited Pittsburgh but when an assistant drew up a list of the top transplant cities in the world, UPMC was No. 1. UCLA was No. 2.

"Do we want to set it in L.A.? Not really," Barbee said. When she broached the notion of setting with Hanson he leapt at the idea of Pittsburgh, calling it a cool city with "great, old architecture" but also a place that's reinventing itself. "I thought that was perfect because the show is so much about second chances and reinventing your life."

Hanson was eager to tell Barbee all about the city's bridges and in the process mentioned the three rivers, which meshed perfectly with Barbee's idea to tell stories from three points of view.

"I thought, that's it!" Barbee said.

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Part 2 of my chat with Barbee will appear here in Tuned In Journal next week.