Texas Tech University

Just Keep Writing: The Passion and Perseverance of James Duff

Jamison Driskill

February 4, 2022

James Duff

A 26-year-old School of Theatre and Dance alumnus James Duff (Attended 1974-75) was tending the front bar at Mildred Pierce, a restaurant on the famed Theatre Row in early 1980s New York City. During the two-hour lull between the pre- and post-theatre rushes, Duff scribbled incessantly in a notebook, working on what would eventually become his first full-length play for adults. Upon discovering his undertaking, the waitstaff chuckled and cajoled him: “You're a good bartender Duff, but you're too dumb to write a play.”

Driven by a desire to prove his heckling co-workers wrong, the obstinate Duff finished his script, Home Front. The play enjoyed runs in London's West End (under the title of The War at Home) and on Broadway. Years later, Duff would create a film adaptation of his play starring Emilio Estevez, Kathy Bates, and Martin Sheen. Estevez also served as co-producer and director of the movie.

Duff, it seems, had the last laugh.

This incredible story is but one of many Duff recalls from his remarkable journey from troubled adolescent to renowned writer and producer. Duff was born in New Orleans and raised in several Texas cities by his adoptive parents. “I ended up going to five elementary schools, three junior highs, and three high schools,” Duff recalls.

At one point, Duff landed in Lubbock at Monterey High School where he studied theatre arts with Harlan Reddell, who made a lasting impression on the young man. In the midst of his high school experience, Duff's family would move to the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area. But when tensions with his father about his sexual identity boiled over, Duff ran away and returned to Lubbock on his own.

That summer Duff found himself on stage in a series of plays produced for a Texas Tech University (TTU) theatre workshop for high school students. Duff would then go on to graduate from Coronado High School before enrolling at TTU as a theatre major.

During this period, he collaborated with many people (among them, one of the School of Theatre & Dance's most recognizable alumnus, G.W. Bailey) who would become profoundly influential lifelong friends: “I really began to focus on acting as what I wanted to do because I was doing theatre with these, you know, aces. I also had great teachers and they treated me so well.”

Duff appeared in every major production during two semesters and a season of summer rep at TTU. Although Duff's time here was brief, he has always considered himself a Red Raider.

After Tech, Duff began auditioning for professional theatres. His efforts eventually led to roles at DFW area theatres, including Dallas Repertory Theatre, Theatre Three, and Casa Mañana. This transformative era for Duff secured his union membership and perhaps more importantly his first opportunities to write for the theatre. Duff credits the late Larry O'Dwyer, veteran Theatre Three actor and director, for starting him down this path that would later define his career: “Larry asked me to write some children's plays for Theater Three's season and those were the first things I wrote that were produced. That's kind of how I began my transition from actor to writer. I didn't realize it was happening at the time, but that is how it began.”

Duff's next chapter opens in New York City. With his union card and a resume in hand, he was plugging away at an acting career. Tired of waiting around for the perfect role, Duff began writing out his own ideas. Before long, he found his voice: “It wasn't until I started writing Home Front that I began to realize that I have something to say – and it's something that I still like talking about. I like to ask: How did we get where we are? What happened to get us to this moment? I think every writer has a little section of the literary garden they feel comfortable tending. And for me, it's always been about the struggle between idealism and pragmatism, and how we find balance between those two opposites.”

Though Home Front struggled to gain an audience in New York City, the play shattered expectations with wildly successful international productions at major theatres in London, Israel, Germany, Greece, Sweden, and South Africa.

His writing career was off and running, but the honeymoon didn't last long. In the late 80s, he was struggling to find work and he found himself back behind the bar to keep up with rent and bills. Duff's personal life was also complicated when his partner, David Camacho, received the (then terminal) diagnosis that he was HIV positive.

Remarkably, New York Daily News columnist and Duff's close friend, Jimmy Breslin, wrote two Pulitzer Prize-winning articles about the 28-year-old-Camacho, highlighting his struggles with the disease. Breslin also interviewed Duff on his short-lived show called Jimmy Breslin's People. Duff recalls the experience: “The interview was nominated for an Emmy, and he took me to the awards banquet where they gave out the journalism awards. We lost out to an interview by Dianne Sawyer with Charles Manson, but it was great press for the HIV epidemic.”

Camacho would succumb to his illness not long after the interview.

Though he was professionally adrift and enduring a painful loss, Duff put his head down kept writing. His perseverance eventually paid off. Duff was asked to write the screenplay for a television movie called Doing Time on Maple Drive by some producers in Los Angeles who had noticed the success of Home Front internationally. Duff: “They thought I was talented and cheap. And they were right.”

The prospect of writing for television (and the accompanying paycheck) thrilled the 34-year-old Duff. Even so, Duff audaciously refused to write the story as pitched. He instead offered an alternative narrative that he felt more closely resembled reality. Incredibly, though there was a good amount of handwringing, the producers ultimately relented and commissioned Duff to write his vision.

The 1992 television film Doing Time on Maple Drive, starring an early career Jim Carrey, was a hit. It received Emmy nods for “Outstanding Television Movie” and Duff himself was nominated for “Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special.” And just like that, Duff's career in Hollywood had begun. He would spend the next decade writing television movies and series pilots. It was also during this period that Home Front (1996) was produced as a screenplay. Then, from 1998 until about 2003, Duff deployed his talents in support of established television series including Popular, Felicity, Star Trek: Enterprise, The Agency, and Wolf Lake.

Then things would take a turn for the incredible. Duff's next three original projects would take his career to the next level and change his life forever.

First, he created a series for ABC called The D.A., starring Steven Weber who had understudied the role of Jeremy in Home Front on Broadway. The network had only ordered four episodes, all of which were shot, and it appeared as though that would be the end of it.

Duff recalls what happened next: “TNT at the time was looking to branch out into original programming and they liked The D.A. very much. They thought about transferring it entirely to their network, but then they decided they really wanted something original. Michael Wright, who was running TNT at that time, was a genius communicator. He told me he wanted a crime show that did not scare away women and that would fit somewhere in a box between NBC and HBO. Those were the marching orders. So, my partners' Michael M. Robin and Greer Shepard and I went off and we came up with some very central parts of The Closer.”

Starring Kyra Sedgwick as Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief Brenda Leigh, The Closer, ran for seven seasons (2005-12) and established Duff among the elite television screenwriters. The role also proved to be seminal in Sedgwick's career as she amassed several awards for her performance including an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

Duff discussed how he created this complex and captivating character: “I based the character on me – and my sister and my mother. I just I just took the three of us and made us into one character. And when people said they found the character annoying or difficult, it always hurt my feelings a little bit because I was like, ‘I'm not annoying, am I?' But I do have a hard time letting things go. And I have to finish things. I can't really concentrate until I have finished what I have to do. And I drift off. So, [Brenda Leigh] was a way of me talking about myself. I am not flawless.”

Duff followed his success by creating yet another successful television series that picks up where The Closer left off. Major Crimes starred Mary McDonnell as Sharon Raydor, a former internal-affairs officer tasked with replacing Johnson as head of the LAPD major crimes division. The show ran for six seasons (2012-18).

Savvy TTU School of Theatre & Dance alums will recall that The Closer and Major Crimes also featured G.W. Bailey, Duff's longtime mentor and former colleague from his days as a Red Raider. As Duff tells it, Bailey had agreed to come in and read for The Closer mostly just to say ‘hello.' But, when the team at TNT viewed his tape, they said, “Hire him!” The two remain close friends to this day.

These days, Duff lives in the ninth arrondissement of Paris with his (also very accomplished) husband, actor Phillip P. Keene. You will find his name attached to both Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard as an executive producer and he hinted at several projects in the works. Duff even insisted that he will be returning to the world theatre with a new play that is “almost finished.”

When writers say they have a project that is “almost finished,” it's best to take the news with a grain of salt. Given Duff's track record, however, it would probably be unwise to bet against him.