When we were first approached to produce the television pilot for "Dangerous Minds," we were reluctant. We weren't eager to produce a poor man's version of the movie. Also, after five years of writing and producing "Northern Exposure," we felt ill-prepared to tackle a serious show dealing with the problems of inner-city kids. Jerry Bruckheimer, one of Hollywoods' most successful producers of action movies, had produced the film of "Dangerous Minds" and wanted us to run the show if it became a series. When we told his television development executive, Chad Oman, that we didn't think the show was right for us, Chad said, "Please, just meet with Jerry." We agreed to the meeting, which we thought would be a polite, pro forma pass on the project. However, when Jerry said, "I want to do a show that will make teachers heroes," we found ourselves replying, "Okay, we'll do it." As we left Jerry's office, we both had the same thought: "What have we gotten ourselves into!"

However, somehow things fell miraculously into place. In casting the central role of teacher Louanne Johnson, we were able to get the remarkable actress Annie Potts. From our first reading of the script, we felt she was perfect for the part. Luckily, ABC agreed with us. We'd been friends with Annie since our sons were together in nursery school, and it was a joy to finally have the opportunity to work with her. From the get-go, it was important to us to show the students not as ciphers, cardboard reflections of social ills, but as real kids with the idiosyncrasies, angst and goofiness that all adolescents have. In the pilot, we added a story element that one of the characters, Cornelius, a particularly closed-off, hard kid, had a secret obsession with trains and was a self-taught expert on the subject. When a writer, who himself had come from a poor, inner-city background, viewed the pilot, he really connected with this. He told us that every gang-banger he knew growing up always had some kind of hobby. There wasn't money to support an expensive one, but each kid had some kind of avocation, some kind of outlet.

In May of 1996, when ABC picked up "Dangerous Minds" as one of its new fall series, we were already immersed in research for the show. This research was inspiring. We learned that the popular media generally present an unfairly bleak picture of adolescent urban life. Although there are terrible, massive problems of drugs, violence, teen pregnancy, etc., there are a lot of loving, selfless people who are trying tirelessly and without fanfare to solve those problems. For example, we saw an article in the L.A. Times about a plastic surgeon who volunteered his time removing tattoos from former gang members so they could pass job interviews and enter the work force. We thought the article might make an interesting subplot for an episode (it did), and we followed up to learn more about the program. It turned out that the doctor featured in the article, John Vanore, was a neighbor of ours whom we'd known as Jack. He donated two days a week to the program as well as the very expensive laser used in the procedure. Here was a man we'd known casually for over a decade and had no idea that he gave so much of himself to help these ex-gang members. When we asked him why he did so, he shrugged modestly, said he'd been fortunate in his life and felt he should give something back. This kind of quiet, unassuming charity was something we encountered over and over again in producing "Dangerous Minds."

We were impressed with many people we met, but it was the kids themselves who most touched us. For many of them, it took tremendous discipline and courage simply to get to school every day. To stay in school, to finish school, when they have no parents or abusive, drug-addicted parents, when they have no encouragement or role-model to succeed, when they don't have a desk to do homework at or are living on the streets -- that is truly an act of heroism. And we met a lot of heroes like that. One of our cast members is just such a person. Latoya Howlett had been a gang member, but turned her life around after she got involved with Colors United, a group that brings drama and music programs to inner-city schools (programs that budget cuts have all but eliminated). Latoya graduated from high school and, when we met her, was a freshman at Cal State Los Angeles. She took a leave of absence to act in "Dangerous Minds," and as soon as production was over, rather than being sucked in to the Hollywood scene, Latoya went right back to school.

In producing "Dangerous Minds," we've seen that despite the terrible social problems in our cities, there is hope. We've seen that if kids are approached with love and respect, they will respond in kind. We've seen that anyone can change. When we're asked what the overall message of "Dangerous Minds" is, we say it's that we're all one -- and that all children, regardless of where they live or the color of their skin, are our children.