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HBO’s ‘Entourage’ Gets Warner Bros Movie Greenlight: Creator Doug Ellin To Direct

By NIKKI FINKE AND MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday January 29, 2013 @ 6:42pm PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, Doug Ellin, Entourage, Jeremy Piven, Warner Bros

EXCLUSIVE: Vinnie Chase and Ari Gold are back, baby. Warner Bros has tonight given the greenlight on a movie version of Entourage, the HBO series that ran from 2004-2011. That’s about as far as the studio has gotten at this point, and there is no start date. But it’s a reprise for the inside Hollywood exploits of the up and coming film star, his agent, his manager, his under-appreciated TV actor brother and the childhood pal/driver who form his inner circle. The film will be directed by series creator Doug Ellin, who wrote the screenplay and who exec produced the series with Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson. Deals are starting to be made with Adrian Grenier who played Vinnie, Kevin Connolly who played his manager Eric “E” Murphy, Kevin Dillon who played the actor’s brother Johnny Drama, Jerry Ferrara who played their entrepreneurial driver Turtle, and of course Jeremy Piven who played the show’s iconic Type A talent agent-turned movie studio mogul Ari Gold.

Related: EXCLUSIVE: ‘Entourage’ Movie Screenplay Finally Completed By Creator Doug Ellin
Related: The End Of ‘Entourage’: Whaddya Think?

In September 2012, the HBO series ended its 8th and final season with soap opera schmaltz but also a Hollywood cliffhanger. Agent Ari Gold becoming a newly minted studio mogul obviously set up the movie which series’ WME packaging agent Ari Emanuel (the prototype for Gold) and executive producers Mark Wahlberg and Steven Levinson want so badly. Ellin says that Wahlberg keeps promising “to kill me if I don’t write faster. Every time I see him, Mark says, ‘I’ve made 5 movies this year. Get going!” Ellin needed time off after spending “10 years of my life” on the TV series that premiered on HBO in 2004. He told Deadline his script starts about 6 months after the TV series leaves off. “There are interesting developments about Ari as a studio head, and that’s still the first page for me. But foremost is the friendship between the guys who are still hanging out and going to fun parties, and it continues with the same characters.” Ellin has kept in touch with all the key castmembers especially Connolly (“E”) and Ferrara (Turtle”) who are two of Ellin’s closest friends. All the Entourage actors have been getting other gigs while HBO has been paying Ellin for the script. Hopefully Drama’s agent Lloyd (Rex Lee), E’s girl Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui), his management partner Scott (Scott Caan), their quirky director collaborator Billy Walsh (Rhys Coiro) and Ari’s agency partner Barbara Miller (Beverly D’Angelo) will all be in the mix, along with a swarm of real Hollywood VIPs playing themselves. While some naysayers might think this HBO-to-film has no shot, the first Sex And The City did really well.

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EXCLUSIVE: ‘Entourage’ Movie Screenplay Finally Completed By Creator Doug Ellin; Picks Up 6 Months After TV Series Left Off

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday September 12, 2012 @ 9:36am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, Doug Ellin, Entourage, HBO

Entourage Movie
EXCLUSIVE: The Entourage bad boys are almost back. Exactly one year ago, the HBO series ended its eighth and final season with soap opera schmaltz but also a Hollywood cliffhanger: agent Ari Gold as a newly minted studio mogul. That obviously set up the movie which Entourage creator Doug Ellin wanted to write one day. Well, I can now report that’s sooner rather than later: Ellin is on page 110 of his screenplay and “gonna finish by Sunday (I pray)”, he emails me. Ellin notes that no one wants to see the movie greenlighted by HBO more than the series’ WME packaging agent Ari Emanuel (the prototype for Gold) and executive producers Mark Wahlberg and Steven Levinson. Ellin says that Wahlberg keeps promising “to kill me if I don’t write faster. Every time I see him, Mark says, ‘I’ve made 5 movies this year. Get going!”

Ellin explains that he first needed time off after spending “10 years of my life” on the TV series that premiered on HBO in 2004. In the meantime, Ellin is under an overall deal at HBO and continued to develop for the pay cable network. He did an HBO comedy pilot starring Ed Burns that wasn’t picked up. Ellin and his producing partner Jim Lefkowitz also developed another HBO project, the boxing drama Da Brick, with Spike Lee and Mike Tyson and John Ridley. When Ellin got down to penning the Entourage screenplay, he told me he felt “renewed momentum”.

He says his script starts about 6 months after the TV series leaves off. “There are interesting developments about Ari as a studio head, and that’s still the first page for me. But foremost is the friendship between the guys who are still hanging out and going to fun parties, and it continues with the same characters.” Read More »

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Doug Ellin’s Comedy Pilot ’40′ Not Going Forward At HBO

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday March 5, 2012 @ 11:35am PSTTags: 40, Doug Ellin, HBO
Nellie Andreeva

HBO 40 PilotEXCLUSIVE: HBO has decided not move forward with 40, the comedy pilot from Entourage creator Doug Ellin. The single-camera ensemble originally revolved around four lifelong friends — played in the pilot by Ed Burns, Michael … Read More »

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UPDATE: Michael Imperioli & Adrian Pasdar To Star In Doug Ellin’s HBO Pilot ’40′

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday September 22, 2011 @ 4:19pm PDTTags: 40, Doug Ellin, HBO, TV Castings
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE UPDATED: The Sopranos alum Michael Imperioli and former Heroes star Adrian Pasdar round out the lead cast of Doug Ellin’s HBO pilot 40. The two join previously cast Ed Burns and Michael Rapaport in the single-camera ensemble comedy, which revolves around four lifelong friends who help each other navigate life at 40, which isn’t all they expected it to be. Burns plays a married guy and a father who used to work at Bear Stearns making more than $2 million a year but has now been out of work for almost a year. Rapaport plays another friend, also married, who is described as a neurotic everyman. Imperioli plays a single guy, a hustler who is shameless when it comes to self-promotion. Pasdar plays the fourth of the buddies, a Wall Street millionaire. Also cast in the pilot is Susan Misner, who guest stars in the premiere of CBS’ Person of Interest tonight. She will play Burns’ character’s wife. Read More »

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HBO Boxing Pilot ‘Da Brick’ Casts Lead

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday August 31, 2011 @ 5:59pm PDTTags: Da Brick, Doug Ellin, HBO, John Ridley, Mike Tyson, Spike Lee
Nellie Andreeva

After a long search, newcomer John Boyega (Attack the Block) has landed the lead in HBO’s newly picked up drama pilot Da Brick, from Spike Lee, John Ridley, Doug Ellin and Mike Tyson. Boyega will play the … Read More »

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HBO Picks Up Boxing Drama ‘Da Brick’ To Pilot; Doug Ellin, Spike Lee, Mike Tyson And John Ridley Executive Produce

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday August 30, 2011 @ 6:52pm PDTTags: Da Brick, Doug Ellin, HBO, John Ridley, Mike Tyson, Spike Lee
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: It looks like Da Brick is a go at HBO. I hear the pay cable network has handed out a pilot order to the drama project about a young boxer from Entourage creator Doug Ellin, filmmaker Spike Lee, former boxing champion Mike Tyson and writer John Ridley. Ridley wrote the script for the pilot, which will be directed by Lee. Set in current-day Newark, NJ, nicknamed “brick city,” Da Brick is described as a contemporary exploration of what it means to be a young, black man in supposedly post-racial America and is loosely inspired by aspects of Tyson’s youth. Search is under way for a young black actor to play the lead.

Da Brick stems from Tyson’s 2010 guest appearance on Ellin’s HBO comedy Entourage, a series inspired by executive producer Mark Wahlberg’s early years in Hollywood. “That’s when Mike asked me, why don’t we do with my life what we did with Mark’s life,” Ellin told me back in June, when Da Brick was still in development. “The initial idea was ‘Entourage meets The Wire,’ an edgy story about an up-and-coming boxer and his crew that is much more dramatic than Entourage.” While it was not a series Ellin felt he would write, he and his producing partner Jim Lefkowitz decided to develop and produce it through their company. Lefkowitz brought in Ridley who, in turn, brought in Lee, with whom he had been developing a movie about the L.A. riots. Ellin, Lefkowitz, Ridley, Lee and Tyson are executive producing Da Brick, with Tyson’s wife Lakiha Tyson and Azim Spicer, CEO of Las Vegas’ SpiceReel Prods, co-executive producing. Read More »

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CAA Signs ‘Entourage’s Doug Ellin

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday August 12, 2011 @ 12:29pm PDTTags: CAA, Doug Ellin, talent agency, WME
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Entourage creator/executive producer Doug Ellin has signed with CAA, which will also represent his company Fly the Coop Entertainment. He had been at WME for a long time. Ellin, whose HBO comedy Entourage is wrapping its eight-season … Read More »

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Michael Rapaport To Star Opposite Ed Burns In Doug Ellin’s HBO Comedy Pilot ’40′

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday August 3, 2011 @ 7:10am PDTTags: 40, Doug Ellin, Ed Burns, HBO, Michael Rapaport, TV Casting
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: With his HBO comedy series Entourage recently wrapping production on its final season, Doug Ellin is shifting attention to his next project for the pay cable network, half-hour pilot 40. Michael Rapaport has been tapped to star opposite Ed … Read More »

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Doug Ellin On ‘Entourage’ Movie: “We’re Going To Do It”

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday July 28, 2011 @ 6:45pm PDTTags: Doug Ellin, Entourage Movie, HBO, Mark Wahlberg, TCA Summer Tour, Television Critics Association
Nellie Andreeva

More assurances that HBO’s long-running comedy series Entourage will spill onto the big screen with a movie, following the end of its eight-season run this fall. “If I had to finance it myself, I would do it,” executive producer Mark … Read More »

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Spike Lee, Mike Tyson, Doug Ellin & John Ridley Team For HBO Drama Series Inspired By Tyson’s Youth

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday June 21, 2011 @ 8:00pm PDTTags: Da Brick, Doug Ellin, HBO, HBO Drama Series, John Ridley, Mike Tyson, Spike Lee
Nellie Andreeva

How is this for intriguing mix of creative auspices — filmmaker Spike Lee, former boxing champion Mike Tyson and Entourage creator Doug Ellin have come together to produce a drama series project for HBO, written by John Ridley and to be directed by Lee. The project, titled Da Brick, is described as a contemporary exploration of what it means to be a young, black man in supposedly post-racial America and is loosely inspired by aspects of Tyson’s youth. Is its set in current-day Newark, NJ, nicknamed “brick city.” While the project is still in development, HBO has hired a casting director to explore casting choices for the lead, looking for young black actors who are also credible in the boxing ring.

Tyson appeared in a 2010 episode of Ellin’s HBO comedy series Entourage, playing himself. The original germ of an idea for Da Brick came out of a meeting the two had on the set of the veteran comedy, which was inspired by Mark Wahlberg’s early years in Hollywood. “That’s when Mike asked me, why don’t do with my life what we did with Mark’s life,” Ellin said. “The initial idea was ‘Entourage meets The Wire‘, an edgy story about an up-and-coming boxer and his crew that is much more dramatic than Entourage.” Read More »

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HBO Greenlights Doug Ellin’s Comedy Pilot ’40′ Starring Ed Burns

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday March 1, 2011 @ 1:10pm PSTTags: Doug Ellin, Ed Burns, HBO Pilots, TV, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

HBO has picked up to pilot 40, an ensemble comedy from Entourage creator/executive producer Doug Ellin co-starring Ed Burns.

The show, set in New York, revolves around four lifelong friends who help each other navigate life at 40, which isn’t all … Read More »

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TCA: There Could Be ‘Entourage The Movie’

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Saturday August 7, 2010 @ 4:28pm PDTTags: Doug Ellin, Entourage, Entourage Movie, HBO, HBO TCA Executive Session, Michael Lombardo, TCA

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s coverage of TCA.

The long-running HBO comedy series Entourage will end its run on the network next summer with 6 episodes. Then showrunner Doug Ellin will consider turning it into a possible film featuring the existing cast. The announcement was made this afternoon at HBO’s … Read More »

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