Brent Roske, the creator of the new Web series “Chasing the Hill,” fell for politics in 1999 when he started watching Aaron Sorkin’s NBC drama “The West Wing.”
“I started watching from the first episode and became a rabid fan immediately,” Roske says.
Like many “West Wing” fans, Roske said the show inspired him to get more politically involved. He started to work with several political campaigns, including a stint helping out Barack Obama’s presidential effort.
Roske isn’t a reliable Democrat, however. He says his personal politics are firmly in the center and he has voted for candidates on both sides aisle.
Then, a year and a half ago, his friend, producer Arvind David, moved from London to Los Angeles, not long after he had produced the film “The Infidel,” starring former “West Wing” cast member Richard Schiff, who famously played Communications Director Toby Ziegler on “The West Wing.”
It was David who invited Roske to join Schiff’s weekly script-writing group.
“We call it script group and — when everybody is in town — every Thursday night we meet at either Richard’s house or someone else’s,” Roske says. Each week the group of screenwriters and actors goes over a new script that one person has written.
One night, Roske recalls, Schiff and another friend, Jordan Belfi, who played Adam Davies on the HBO show “Entourage,” read through a one-act play that Roske had written.
“When we got done they said that the parts about campaigning were really interesting,” Roske says. “What we read [that night] is pretty much the pilot episode of ‘Chasing the Hill.’”
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