How Should Hollywood Respond to Mass Shootings?

A little under six weeks ago, a new eight-part docuseries debuted on Showtime. Titled Active Shooter: America Under Fire, the show—executive produced by Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman—explores the subject of mass shootings in the U.S., with each episode dedicated to a different tragedy. The goal, Saidman told me, wasn’t to advocate for any particular policy changes, but rather to “spark a healthier, more productive national conversation” about something he describes as “an epidemic.” Rather than focus on the perpetrators, Active Shooter gives space to the survivors, the family members, and the first responders who’ve endured mass shootings to speak about what it’s like.

Two days after the first episode aired, a gunman in a hotel room in Las Vegas and injured more than 500, in the worst disaster of its kind in American history. Two days after the sixth episode aired, a gunman, including a 5-year-old, and wounded 20. “As producers of nonfiction content,” Saidman said, “we try to make programs that get people thinking about topics that are in the news.” It’s hard, in other words, for documentaries to be timely. But in this case, he wondered if actually was. Holzman, his partner, described the confluence of news and subject as “a terrible confirmation of our thesis that there’s an urgent need to make some changes. Because it’s getting worse.”