This year’s ATX Television Festival has been going quite well so far, and fans seem to be enjoying themselves a lot, with plenty of things to see and do. Just now, we’ve seen reports that guests attending the event have been treated to something special – a reading of the script from the pilot of “Dawson’s Creek” by several prominent stars, over a decade after the show itself stopped airing.
Kevin Williamson, original creator of the show, asked for the help of Mae Whitman, Patrick J. Adams and Abigail Spencer for the reading, and they all had a lot of fun performing it in a somewhat humorous style. All of them seemed to have a lot of trouble keeping a straight face during the reading, and there was also a peculiar twist thrown in there as well – the genders of the roles were swapped, leading to even more hilarious moments.
In particular, Whitman was the one reading the lines for Dawson Leery and Adams was reading Joey Potter. At the same time, Spencer was reading the lines of Pacey, and Kerr Smith who starred on the show while it was running played the part of Jen Lindley. The idea to swap the roles was original itself and was met with lots of laughter from the audience, but a few moments managed to stand out in particular.
For example, at one point Adams had to yell out “I have breasts!” in the role of Joey, much to the amusement of everyone present. According to accounts from people at the event, this was the moment when everyone burst into laughter.
And, after all this time, fans of the show are still learning new things about it. For example, we got the revelation that there could actually have been an alternate ending to the production, showing Joey and Dawson ending up together. However, the alternate ending didn’t happen for various internal reasons, and fans got the finale that we now know and remember.
Williamson actually revealed that his mother felt very negatively about his decision, as the alternative ending was actually the one that was originally planned for the show, but Williamson ended up changing his mind instead. He said, perhaps jokingly, that his mother “went to her grave hating him for that”, so it appears it wasn’t just the show’s fan base that were disappointed by the revelation about the alternate ending. Still, for what it’s worth, “Dawson’s Creek” ended in a good way and it was clear that the writers had put a lot of effort into coming up with a script that works for all characters.