In accepting the Visionary Tribute at the 2025 Gotham TV Awards, acclaimed and prolific TV series writer-producer David E. Kelley rallied his fellow creators, urging them to stay true to who they are even if that goes against corporate mandates.
“Every day when I wake up and get to do this job, I know how lucky I am, and all of us are lucky to do what we do,” he said, noting how it feels to be part of the creative community at gatherings like The Gothams.
Which is “perhaps why I’m a little disappointed with some of the compromises and capitulations being taken by some of our corporate industry partners,” he said to a big applause.
Kelley, whose long list of credits includes L.A. Law, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Big Little Lies and Presumed Innocent, then addressed his fellow creatives, alluding to the America going though “darker times of moral wobble.”
“We all set out to become who we are, it was Albert Schweitzer who first said that. But as you go along, perhaps the bigger challenge is to not become who you know you’re not,” Kelley said. “We’re in the arts. We have a unique ability to move people, to offer hope in darker times of moral wobble. We can be leaders. Not everybody gets that chance, and fewer people take it.”
Kelley closed his speech with, “Tonight, we’re here all celebrating together, and I would encourage you as we go forward, as we sing our songs and make our television shows and movies and do our dances, have a grand time but hold on to who and what you are as you go about it.”
