Mr. Brock Kelly’s survival record, which lit up a social media firestorm, served as the catalyst for federal and state criminal sexual abuse allegations that aired the art. Kelly is currently facing off.
After the release of the Lifetime documentary in early 2019, the response was immediate and the legal implications for the singer were fast. Despite the success of the powerful six-part series, the team behind the documentary has hesitated to work for follow-up.
Brian Miranda Bryant, Senior VP of Lifetime’s Unscripted Development and Programming, says, “We were very worried about what the dock was and how the document was affected.
We don’t want to endanger it.”
The Hollywood Reporter is in conversation with fellow executive producer Jesse Daniels.
But for now, Amy is nominated for Surviving Are. A year after Kelly’s release, the production team is returning with a five-part sequel, which will air three nights on Lifetime from Thursday. (Part 1 was watched by 26.8 million viewers and subsequently aired by another 26 million.)
Surviving R. Kelly returns for Part II: The Reckoning
The new series explores R. Kelly’s off-camera success and impact by following an ongoing case against Kelly (her first trial date has been set.
In Part 1, manufacturers wanted to include more than 50 abusers and participants. For Part 2 this number has increased to over 70. Seven survivors are speaking for Part 2, for the first time.
Below, in conversation with THR, Bryant and Daniel Surviving Are. Kelly highlighted his journey to apply Part II: The Recording to the Screen and the lessons learned from the first part.
“The same executive producer team got back together, so there was a lot of discussion between all of us about how to deal with Part 2,” Daniels said.
You realize at what point you want to survive. Need to follow Kelly?
Bree Miranda Bryant: First we were up against doing a part 2. Part 1 came after the discussion, in which everyone was asked when Part 2 was going to happen and “Did we consider it?” “Not sure” was the answer.
We are all very worried about what impact the dock will have and the interactions around it. We don’t want to endanger it.
There were a lot of things we knew at the time, and then more began to come out after the documentary was released, but we’re not sure what we did for Part 1 for Part 2.
At some point, a reporter shared a conversation he had with the authorities, including tapes and photographs of minors’ sexual harassment, and clear evidence of the allegations were dropped and the journalist wanted to know why.
And the answer from those officers to the reporter was, “They’re not our girls.” After I heard that story, we knew we had to do a part 2.
Just for humanity. For the survivors, a doctor questioned the validity of their stories. And for parents who called to the table. So how does Part 2 get around; about four months later.
Jesse Daniels: It’s been for several months. As Brie says, we don’t want to do Part 2. We are proud of what we have done.
But, in the end, I clearly remember that conversation and it really became our mission statement for Part 2; we now have a sense of responsibility. With Part 1 we knew we had to go deeper into certain areas, so that was our goal.
