The creators of a new TV series about 'Waco' say the media didn't tell the full story of the infamous siege
- The creators of "Waco," a miniseries on the Paramount Network, said they learned that the media coverage in 1993 was very one-sided.
- In their research, John Erick and Drew Dowdle learned more about the people living in the cult.
- The idea for a show based on the 51-day siege came while they were researching a character for a completely different project.
- The show stars Michael Shannon, Taylor Kitsch, and Rory Culkin.
The creators of new TV miniseries "Waco" always meant for it to show the whole truth of the 1993 Waco siege, by telling the story from multiple perspectives: especially those that weren't told by the media. But they didn't expect it to have such cultural relevance to our current political landscape.
"Waco," a miniseries on the Paramount Network (formerly Spike TV), stars Michael Shannon, Taylor Kitsch, John Leguiziamo, and Melissa Benoist. Business Insider recently spoke to the creators of the show, brothers John Erick and Drew Dowdle. In writing the show, they said they discovered the media only told one side of the story in 1993.
With "Waco," the Dowdles hoped to emphasize the power of communication, and that there's more to this story, and every person involved.
"We really tried to see what makes people tick on all sides of this, that was really important to us," co-creator Drew Dowdle said.
The Siege
The Waco siege, which lasted from February 28 to April 19, 1993, was a 51-day standoff at a compound belonging to a religious group called the Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh.
Koresh convinced his followers that he was Christ. They lived together on the compound - which they called Mount Carmel - to prepare for the end of the world. The Mount Carmel compound had no electricity, heat, or running water.
The standoff, between the Branch Davidians and the FBI along with the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms), began when the ATF attempted to raid the compound to find illegal weapons. There were also rumors of abuse against women and children on the compound.
Eventually, the FBI initiated a tear gas attack in an attempt to force the Branch Davidians out, resulting in a fire. 76 people died, including Koresh.
The Waco siege is cited as one of the motivations behind the 1996 Oklahoma City bombing. During the standoff, crowds gathered on a hill a few miles away from Mount Carmel to see what was happening. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, then 24, visited that site, where he distributed pro-gun literature and bumper stickers.
"The power of talk"
"Waco" was in development before topics like gun control and white supremacy saw high-profile coverage leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
"Waco" co-creator John Erick Dowdle said he felt like the country was "already going down that path," even though they started working on the series four years ago. "We've lost some ability to talk," he said of America. "And this show is an exploration of the power of talk."
In "Waco," Michael Shannon's FBI agent Gary Noesner (who the Dowdles spoke to personally) makes multiple attempts to communicate with Koresh and the Branch Davidians. He tries to convince other agents - both his colleagues at the FBI and ATF agents - to prioritize peaceful communication over violent tactics. Unfortunately, not many others seem to see things the way Noesner does.
Firsthand accounts
The Dowdles said they stumbled upon the idea for a show about the Waco siege "kind of randomly."
In reading firsthand accounts of the Waco siege, meant as research for a character in a completely different story they were writing, the Dowdles realized this was the show they should write.
The Dowdles spoke to people on all sides of the siege: FBI agents, ATF agents, and David Thibodeau, a Branch Davidian who survived the fire (played by Rory Culkin in the series). Through Thibodeau, whom they spoke to extensively, the audience gets to see how someone could believably get roped in by Koresh, who is manipulative but charming, and a very convincing leader.
"We've talked to a lot of survivors at this point," Drew said. "You're sitting talking to someone face to face, ATF agents, FBI, Branch Davidians ... everyone all around. It's hard not to get where they're coming from. So we were like, 'Let's do a version of this where you can see people make mistakes, but it's not because they're evil. It's because they have a worldview that is in conflict with the worldview they're in conflict with. We really tried to see what makes people tick on all sides of this, that was really important to us. "
The show, in particular, highlights the mistakes the ATF made by going into Mount Carmel with little preparation. It also focuses on the friction between FBI agents on site, who had different opinions on problem solving, as well as Koresh's leadership. (Since he believed himself to be a messiah, Koresh was the only man at the compound who was allowed to have sex with the women there, even if they were married to other men.)
The Media
"They're making us look like monsters," Koresh says in the fourth episode, which aired Wednesday night. "Calling us child abusers."
Koresh is played with an intense, almost comical sincerity by Taylor Kitsch, a role very different from his previous work as Tim Riggins on "Friday Night Lights." The Dowdles said Kitsch lost thirty pounds for the role, studied scripture, learned how to play guitar, and took vocal lessons. Kitsch also did so much research on Koresh that some of his ideas made it into the scripts, such as the fact that Koresh calls his mom after he is shot.
The Dowdles both said they learned about the Waco Siege when it was in the news, particularly that Koresh and the Branch Davidians were crazy and brainwashed. But they learned a lot that the media didn't tell them while doing their research.
Drew Dowdle noted that he was surprised that he ended up having "a lot of sympathy" for the FBI. "They stepped into a situation that had been created for them," he said.
John Erick recalled that in 1993, the media portrayed all the Branch Davidians as brainwashed by Koresh. "But then really getting into the history of it, I was actually surprised how much dissent and how much disagreement and how much challenge there was within Mount Carmel, and how it wasn't just one personality. It was a lot of personalities," John Erick said. "There were a lot of really good people in that building. That was, frankly, a surprise to me."
"Waco" airs Wednesday nights on the Paramount Network.