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HBO continues in the Tom Hanks/Gary Goetzman biz with yet another Playtone series from them. The latest has Rachel Getting Married director Jonathan Demme teaming with Walter Mosley to co-write a pilot based on the author’s new detective novel series The Long Fall. Demme will direct the pilot episode which introduces an ex-boxer who turns P.I.. Mosley (known for his period Los Angeles-based Easy Rawlins books) will be executive producer along with Demme and Hanks and Goetzman.
So let me see… Playtone’s Big Love was renewed for a 5th season. And it launches the 10-part miniseries The Pacific on March 14th, which Hanks and Goetzman exec produced with Steven Spielberg. And now this. Demme, meanwhile, becomes the latest in a growing number of A-list directors signing on to direct HBO pilots. Martin Scorsese directed the Boardwalk Empire pilot. His experiences, and a strong David Milch script, convinced Michael Mann to direct Luck, a series pilot set in the world of horse racing. Bill Condon and David Fincher also have series business at HBO.
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Don’t forget Treme. HBO is coming back in a really big way.
and Alexander Payne directed the Hung pilot
Good for Demme. He’s a damn good director. What I don’t like is the real talents instead of making another great movie have to go to television to do in a sense their “indie” films.
To all my fans, more to come…
Thank you.
Big Love has gone off the deep end this season. Way to rushed, contrived, and soapy. Yet still completely watchable. Only 9 episodes. Dumb move.
What’s next season? 6 episodes? It has only hurt the show. But the performances are 1st rate.
The Demme show sounds like a bore to me.
Its a new renaissance. HBO will capture the market on edgy, quality entertainment for years to come. There’s going to be a stampede of A-listers making the jump over there. After Avatars wake, the industry has changed. For better or worse.
So far we’ve got a writer who moonlights as a P.I. (Bored to Death) on HBO and now a Boxer?
You’d think the fact that Bored To Death was on HBO would stop another “person from another walk of life becomes a P.I.” show from getting picked up there.
They should combine this concept with OZ and do a convicted felon who becomes a P.I. in PRISON!!!
I’d also like to see the stripper who becomes a P.I. show since it’s HBO.
Maybe we can also get an adult version of Encyclopedia Brown while we’re at it? Make him 30 and still solving “who stole the cat” mysteries from his parents basement.
…and Alexander Payne did the pilot for HUNG.
And you’re surprised by this, Nikki? HBO seems to be the only place where art and commerce seem to work well together. I don’t know what’s in they’re water over there, but I wish the rest of the industry would start drinking some of it.
Isn’t this kind of quality talent we should expect from HBO? You have to pay a ton of money to get the channel, so it better stand out as must have. The problem is that they’ve become the channel to just a select few EP’s whose inovolvement in some way validates a project so that this level of talent feels comfortable getting involved. The question is however, who is making these decisions? For a while Sue Naegle seemed to be on the hot seat and Lombardi and Plepler’s presence was beginning to be felt more. But Sue has kept her head down and one has to assume that what’s slowly emerging is her stamp on the HBO brand. Until someone tells us it’s not, of course. And in spite of the ridiculously absurd amount of script buys out of the box, the ultimate decisions seem to be drilling down the way they always have; high profile talent given too much money to make their product (The Pacific: 230 million for 10 hours, Empire 30 million for the pilot and 7 million per ep). Big financial risks for the channel that also has to support all the red ink from WBTV, but also abig opportunity for someone like Chris Albrecht at Starz if none of these shows break out and he figures out a way to compete creatively while being fiscally responsible. Where are you placing your bets?
Confused about Michael Mann having to be “convinced” to direct a pilot… the guy got his start in TV.
It’s not TV…it’s HBO. Oh wait – it is TV. Or is it… Does HBO know what they are? Does anyone? Okay – some good shows, some bad — but a damn frustrating place to do business. Just sayin.
What is HBO thinking? “Just hang you hat on anything done by an A-lister?” They’re out of touch as if the concepts are turning over too fast for them. They still haven’t recovered from the departure of Chris Albrecht. You would’ve thought theyd’ve learned from “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” and “John from Cincinnati.” Not only that, “True Blood” sucked last season. Maybe “Treme” will be interesting (if not recycled). Otherwise it’s just a bunch of patronizing, irrelevant, contrived fare that reminds us that we are watching TV not HBO.