Bingo!
But it wasn’t just working on this new script that launched the idea for this series, there was one final tipping point. Donald P. Bellisario read about the 1991 incident at the Tailhook Association convention in Las Vegas. Some male naval aviators behaved in manners inappropriate and the follow-up criminal was run by the Naval Inspector General and the Judge Advocate General of the Navy. In 1993, during the Clinton administration, Secretary of Defense Les Aspin announced a new policy. This allowed female fighter pilots to serve on aircraft carriers at sea and in other new positions. That’s when Bellisario was hit with the idea of the reality-based fictional drama – all thanks to the new policy finally allowing female fighter pilots on aircraft carriers.
Bingo!
No Co-operation
At first the producers of JAG didn’t receive any co-operation from the Department of the Navy. Much of that was because of the sensitivity surrounding the negative publicity from the Tailhook scandal and its aftermath. However, this lack of co-operation didn’t stop the JAG production team from going forward. As we mentioned, Paramount Pictures had access to stock footage of motion pictures they owned by the studio – this was their solution and it worked extrememly well.
No Co Operation
