Get Me a Lawyer

"Get Me a Lawyer"
Damages episode
Ellen (right) runs through Manhattan, bloody and half-naked.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 1
Directed by	Allen Coulter
Written by	Todd A. Kessler Glenn Kessler Daniel Zelman
Original air date	July 24, 2007 (2007-07-24)
Running time	55 minutes
Guest appearances
Tom Aldredge Robin Thomas Victor Arnold Donnie Keshawarz Marlyne Afflack Maya Days Casey Siemaszko Michael Nouri Greta Van Susteren Audrey Moore
Episode chronology
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"Get Me a Lawyer"^[1] (also known as "Pilot"^[2]) is the pilot episode of the legal drama series Damages, which first aired on July 24, 2007 on FX in the United States. It was written by series creators/executive producers Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman, and was directed by producer Allen Coulter. In the episode, recent law school graduate Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) is recruited to Hewes and Associates, a law firm headed by Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), where she is assigned to the "Frobisher case". Billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) is being sued by his former employees, whom he advised to invest in his company while unloading his own stock, and while Frobisher's attorney Ray Fiske (Željko Ivanek) pleads for a settlement price, Patty insists on taking the case to court.

When the Kesslers and Zelman devised the series, they did not specifically intend for Patty and Ellen to be lawyers, wanting primarily to explore the power structures between two strong women—Patty and her protégée Ellen—and choosing a profession afterwards. Close agreed to play Patty so long as the series was filmed in New York City, where she resides. To prepare for their roles, Close, Byrne and Tate Donovan met with corporate lawyers, while Danson met with the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. The pilot was filmed in February and FX placed a 13-episode order for the series in March. Its American airing brought in 3.7 million viewers and it was reviewed positively by most critics. It received two Emmy Award nominations for writing and directing and one win for Close for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. It was also nominated for an American Cinema Editors Award.