Audio By Carbonatix
Keep Dallas Observer Free
We’re $700 away from our spring campaign goal!
We’re aiming to raise $10,000 by April 26. Your support ensures Dallas Observer can continue watching out for you and our community. No paywall. Always accessible. Daily online and weekly in print.
For those so interested, the agenda for today’s Dallas County Commissioners Court meeting includes the county’s contract with Touch Productions, which will produce a documentary series for the Discovery Channel about Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins and efforts to exonerate innocent prisoners using DNA evidence. The county’s all for this project — unlike, oh, an earlier attempt by Sheriff Lupe Valdez to allow Discovery’s camera crews into the Dallas County Jail.
Notes assistant district attorney Bob Schell in his his memo to the commissioners: “This is truly a project which will provide an inside look at an initiative that has already brought national attention to Dallas County.” Only, you’d think a budget-strapped Dallas County would think twice before waiving the $250-per-day rental usually charged to folks who film on county property. After all, Touch says in its contract it’d gladly pay the fee. (And it will — will it ever.) The contract, incidentally, doesn’t say whether it’s a one-off doc or a series, only that “the DA’s office and the producer may elect to extend the Production into a series.” –Robert Wilonsky
