Anna Torv has lined up her next TV project.
The Fringe and Mundhunter star joined the TV adaptation of The Last of Us.
She is set to recur as Jess, a smuggler and hardened survivor in a post-apocalyptic world.
If you're familiar with the videogames the series is based on, you will be aware that Jess had a big role.
The TV adaptation is set 20 years after the destruction of modern civilization. It follows Joel, a hardened survivor of the apocalypse, who's hired to smuggle a 14-year-old girl named Ellie out of an oppressive quarantine zone.
The seemingly small job becomes a brutal journey as they come to depend on each other for survival. The plot appears to be the same as the original game, which should provide a wealth of source material.
Bella Ramsey is set to play Ellie in the drama, which is being written and exec produced by Chernobyl EP Craig Mazin.
The Fringe and Mundhunter star joined the TV adaptation of The Last of Us.
She is set to recur as Jess, a smuggler and hardened survivor in a post-apocalyptic world.
If you're familiar with the videogames the series is based on, you will be aware that Jess had a big role.
The TV adaptation is set 20 years after the destruction of modern civilization. It follows Joel, a hardened survivor of the apocalypse, who's hired to smuggle a 14-year-old girl named Ellie out of an oppressive quarantine zone.
The seemingly small job becomes a brutal journey as they come to depend on each other for survival. The plot appears to be the same as the original game, which should provide a wealth of source material.
Bella Ramsey is set to play Ellie in the drama, which is being written and exec produced by Chernobyl EP Craig Mazin.
- 7/22/2021
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
“The White Lotus,” Mike White’s highly-anticipated return to television, is set to premiere on HBO on July 11. The premium cabler unveiled the trailer for the upcoming satirical comedy series on XXX.
HBO has described the series as a social satire set at an exclusive tropical resort that will follow the exploits of various guests and employees over the span of a week. “The White Lotus” cast includes Murray Bartlett (HBO’s “Looking”), Connie Britton (“Nashville”), Jennifer Coolidge (“2 Broke Girls”), Alexandra Daddario (HBO’s “True Detective”), Fred Hechinger (“Eighth Grade”), Jake Lacy (HBO’s “Girls”), Brittany O’Grady (“Little Voice”), Natasha Rothwell (HBO’s “Insecure”), Sydney Sweeney (HBO’s “Euphoria”) and Steve Zahn (HBO’s “Treme”).
“The White Lotus” is created, written, and directed by White, who also serves as an executive producer alongside David Bernad (HBO’s “Enlightened” and “7 Days in Hell”) and Nick Hall (HBO’s “We Are Who We Are...
HBO has described the series as a social satire set at an exclusive tropical resort that will follow the exploits of various guests and employees over the span of a week. “The White Lotus” cast includes Murray Bartlett (HBO’s “Looking”), Connie Britton (“Nashville”), Jennifer Coolidge (“2 Broke Girls”), Alexandra Daddario (HBO’s “True Detective”), Fred Hechinger (“Eighth Grade”), Jake Lacy (HBO’s “Girls”), Brittany O’Grady (“Little Voice”), Natasha Rothwell (HBO’s “Insecure”), Sydney Sweeney (HBO’s “Euphoria”) and Steve Zahn (HBO’s “Treme”).
“The White Lotus” is created, written, and directed by White, who also serves as an executive producer alongside David Bernad (HBO’s “Enlightened” and “7 Days in Hell”) and Nick Hall (HBO’s “We Are Who We Are...
- 5/26/2021
- by Tyler Hersko
- Indiewire
Production has started on HBO’s adaptation of The Time Traveler’s Wife with Game of Thrones and Band of Brothers director David Nutter helming the series.
Nutter, who has also directed The Sopranos and The Pacific, will direct and exec produce the six-part series, which is shooting in New York.
The series star Rose Leslie, Theo James, Desmin Borges and Natasha Lopez.
Adapted by former Dr. Who head writer and Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat, The Time Traveler’s Wife tells the intricate love story of Clare (Leslie) and Henry (James), and a marriage with a problem… time travel.
Based on Audrey Niffenegger’s book, the series is produced by HBO and Warner Bros. Television with Moffat, Sue Vertue, and Brian Minchin exec producing through Hartswood Films with Joseph E. Iberti and Nutter.
Moffat said, “This is a story of loss but it’s not a tragedy. It’s about a time...
Nutter, who has also directed The Sopranos and The Pacific, will direct and exec produce the six-part series, which is shooting in New York.
The series star Rose Leslie, Theo James, Desmin Borges and Natasha Lopez.
Adapted by former Dr. Who head writer and Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat, The Time Traveler’s Wife tells the intricate love story of Clare (Leslie) and Henry (James), and a marriage with a problem… time travel.
Based on Audrey Niffenegger’s book, the series is produced by HBO and Warner Bros. Television with Moffat, Sue Vertue, and Brian Minchin exec producing through Hartswood Films with Joseph E. Iberti and Nutter.
Moffat said, “This is a story of loss but it’s not a tragedy. It’s about a time...
- 5/18/2021
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us is starting to take shape.
Pedro Pascal has landed the lead role of Joel in the adaptation of the Naughty Dog videogame franchise.
Deadline first reported the exciting news that dropped just hours after it was announced that fellow Game of Thrones actress Bella Ramsey had landed the role of Ellie.
Pascal currently stars on The Mandalorian, the smash hit Disney+ series. A third season has been ordered, but Deadline notes that The Last of Us is in first position.
Pascal most recently appeared on Wonder Woman: 1984, but has other TV credits that include Narcos and The Good Wife.
His breakthrough role was as Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones Season 4.
The Last of Us comes from Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and the game's writer and creative director, Neil Druckmann.
It will be produced by HBO and Sony Pictures TV along with PlayStation Productions,...
Pedro Pascal has landed the lead role of Joel in the adaptation of the Naughty Dog videogame franchise.
Deadline first reported the exciting news that dropped just hours after it was announced that fellow Game of Thrones actress Bella Ramsey had landed the role of Ellie.
Pascal currently stars on The Mandalorian, the smash hit Disney+ series. A third season has been ordered, but Deadline notes that The Last of Us is in first position.
Pascal most recently appeared on Wonder Woman: 1984, but has other TV credits that include Narcos and The Good Wife.
His breakthrough role was as Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones Season 4.
The Last of Us comes from Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and the game's writer and creative director, Neil Druckmann.
It will be produced by HBO and Sony Pictures TV along with PlayStation Productions,...
- 2/11/2021
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
HBO's adaptation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us has found one of its leads.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) is reuniting with the cabler to take on Ellie's role.
The series comes from Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and the game's writer and creative director, Neil Druckmann.
iT will be produced by HBO and Sony Pictures TV along with PlayStation Productions, Word Games, and game developer Naughty Dog.
"Craig and Neil are visionaries in a league of their own," said HBO Programming executive vp Francesca Orsi when HBO went straight to series on the project.
"With them at the helm alongside the incomparable Carolyn Strauss, this series is sure to resonate with both die-hard fans of The Last of Us games and newcomers to this genre-defining saga."
"We're delighted to partner with Naughty Dog, Word Games, Sony and PlayStation to adapt this epic, powerfully immersive story."
The...
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) is reuniting with the cabler to take on Ellie's role.
The series comes from Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and the game's writer and creative director, Neil Druckmann.
iT will be produced by HBO and Sony Pictures TV along with PlayStation Productions, Word Games, and game developer Naughty Dog.
"Craig and Neil are visionaries in a league of their own," said HBO Programming executive vp Francesca Orsi when HBO went straight to series on the project.
"With them at the helm alongside the incomparable Carolyn Strauss, this series is sure to resonate with both die-hard fans of The Last of Us games and newcomers to this genre-defining saga."
"We're delighted to partner with Naughty Dog, Word Games, Sony and PlayStation to adapt this epic, powerfully immersive story."
The...
- 2/11/2021
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
The ballad of Rue and Jules may add another verse sooner than expected.
Euphoria star Zendaya recently hinted that HBO’s dark high school drama might release a bonus episode of some sort ahead of Season 2.
More from TVLineGame of Thrones' Charles Dance: I Would've Signed Final Season PetitionLovecraft Country: Grade the Premiere!Oprah, Angela Bassett and More to Star in HBO's Between the World and Me
“We might end up doing, like, a little bridge episode,” the actress told The Politician‘s Ben Platt, who served as guest host on Jimmy Kimmel Live Wednesday. “I don’t really know how to describe it,...
Euphoria star Zendaya recently hinted that HBO’s dark high school drama might release a bonus episode of some sort ahead of Season 2.
More from TVLineGame of Thrones' Charles Dance: I Would've Signed Final Season PetitionLovecraft Country: Grade the Premiere!Oprah, Angela Bassett and More to Star in HBO's Between the World and Me
“We might end up doing, like, a little bridge episode,” the actress told The Politician‘s Ben Platt, who served as guest host on Jimmy Kimmel Live Wednesday. “I don’t really know how to describe it,...
- 8/20/2020
- by Kimberly Roots
- TVLine.com
Longtime HBO Films president Len Amato is the latest WarnerMedia executive to depart amid a larger corporate restructuring.
Amato added miniseries and Cinemax oversight last April. All drama programming will now be consolidated under executive vice president Francesca Orsi. Senior vice president Tara Grace will now report to Orsi and will also continue overseeing original HBO films and film acquisitions.
Amato had been with HBO for the last 13 years.
Also Read: Layoffs Begin at WarnerMedia After Major Reorganization
An individual familiar with Amato’s decision told TheWrap his departure is not related to the recent layoffs at WarnerMedia. Earlier this year, WarnerMedia executives said that Cinemax would wind down its original programming and focus on acquired films.
“Len’s dedication and passion for the craft have attracted some of the biggest names in creative talent,” said HBO programming president Casey Bloys. “His contributions over the years have played a critical...
Amato added miniseries and Cinemax oversight last April. All drama programming will now be consolidated under executive vice president Francesca Orsi. Senior vice president Tara Grace will now report to Orsi and will also continue overseeing original HBO films and film acquisitions.
Amato had been with HBO for the last 13 years.
Also Read: Layoffs Begin at WarnerMedia After Major Reorganization
An individual familiar with Amato’s decision told TheWrap his departure is not related to the recent layoffs at WarnerMedia. Earlier this year, WarnerMedia executives said that Cinemax would wind down its original programming and focus on acquired films.
“Len’s dedication and passion for the craft have attracted some of the biggest names in creative talent,” said HBO programming president Casey Bloys. “His contributions over the years have played a critical...
- 8/14/2020
- by Tim Baysinger
- The Wrap
Len Amato, President of HBO Films, Miniseries and Cinemax, is leaving the premium cable network after thirteen years.
His exit comes amid a wave of layoffs across HBO parent WarnerMedia, which has impacted a number of veteran, high-level executives. It also continues a consolidation on the longform side at HBO over the past 18 months as that part of the TV business has been evolving.
Longtime HBO Films President Amato added miniseries and Cinemax oversight in April 2019 when 25-year HBO veteran Kary Antholis stepped down as President, HBO Miniseries and Cinemax Programming.
At the time, Cinemax already had started to wind down original programming, a process that is now in its final stages. On the film side, HBO has been moving away from original productions, like the Emmy-winning Recount and The Normal Heart toward acquisitions, like this year’s Emmy hopeful Bad Education.
Additionally, with lines between ongoing drama series and limited series increasingly blurring,...
His exit comes amid a wave of layoffs across HBO parent WarnerMedia, which has impacted a number of veteran, high-level executives. It also continues a consolidation on the longform side at HBO over the past 18 months as that part of the TV business has been evolving.
Longtime HBO Films President Amato added miniseries and Cinemax oversight in April 2019 when 25-year HBO veteran Kary Antholis stepped down as President, HBO Miniseries and Cinemax Programming.
At the time, Cinemax already had started to wind down original programming, a process that is now in its final stages. On the film side, HBO has been moving away from original productions, like the Emmy-winning Recount and The Normal Heart toward acquisitions, like this year’s Emmy hopeful Bad Education.
Additionally, with lines between ongoing drama series and limited series increasingly blurring,...
- 8/14/2020
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
After 13 years at the premium cabler, president of HBO Films, Miniseries and Cinemax Len Amato is departing. The move comes as Cinemax continues to phase out original programming and HBO focuses on acquired film content.
All drama programming is being consolidated under HBO exec VP of programming Francesca Orsi. According to a source familiar with the situation, the move is not related to the greater restructuring — and layoffs — happening at parent company WarnerMedia, but a function of changes to HBO’s business operations.
“Len’s dedication and passion for the craft have attracted some of the biggest names in creative talent,” said HBO programming president Casey Bloys. “His contributions over the years have played a critical role in some of our finest programming. We truly wish him the best as he starts this next chapter.”
Amato had expanded his purview just last year to include miniseries and Cinemax after Kary Antholis...
All drama programming is being consolidated under HBO exec VP of programming Francesca Orsi. According to a source familiar with the situation, the move is not related to the greater restructuring — and layoffs — happening at parent company WarnerMedia, but a function of changes to HBO’s business operations.
“Len’s dedication and passion for the craft have attracted some of the biggest names in creative talent,” said HBO programming president Casey Bloys. “His contributions over the years have played a critical role in some of our finest programming. We truly wish him the best as he starts this next chapter.”
Amato had expanded his purview just last year to include miniseries and Cinemax after Kary Antholis...
- 8/14/2020
- by Elaine Low
- Variety Film + TV
HBO is losing another key executive.
HBO Films, Cinemax and miniseries president Len Amato is exiting the WarnerMedia-owned premium cable network after a 13-year run.
Sources say that while Amato is the latest executive to be consolidated out of the company, his departure comes as the business continues to change. HBO Films has scaled down its originals output in favor of more acquired content and after Cinemax exited the scripted business. Meanwhile, all drama programming — including scripted miniseries — will now be rolled under drama head Francesca Orsi. Tara Grace, senior vp at HBO Films, will continue to oversee ...
HBO Films, Cinemax and miniseries president Len Amato is exiting the WarnerMedia-owned premium cable network after a 13-year run.
Sources say that while Amato is the latest executive to be consolidated out of the company, his departure comes as the business continues to change. HBO Films has scaled down its originals output in favor of more acquired content and after Cinemax exited the scripted business. Meanwhile, all drama programming — including scripted miniseries — will now be rolled under drama head Francesca Orsi. Tara Grace, senior vp at HBO Films, will continue to oversee ...
- 8/14/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Hey, "Perry Mason" fans. We are back at you ,this week, with another special article for you guys. In this one, we're going to start off by telling you that this wonderful first season of HBO's hit drama Perry Mason has indeed come to a close with tonight's finale episode 8. That's right, guys.Tonight's episode 8 will indeed be the last episode you will see of Perry Mason for a while. However, it won't be the last one you'll ever see because HBO did indeed renew it for a brand new season 2! HBO served up the season 2, renewal announcement a few weeks back. The Executive Vice President for HBO programming Francesca Orsi made the announcement, and she had some wonderful things to say about the show when she did. She stated, "It has been an exciting journey to work with the immensely talented team behind Perry Mason.
- 8/10/2020
- by Derek Smith
- OnTheFlix
Updated with video of speech: Succession creator Jesse Armstrong lauded the dark HBO family drama as a “team show” after winning its first Golden Globe.
The Roy family saga beat out HBO’s Big Little Lies, Netflix’s The Crown, BBC America’s Killing Eve and Apple TV+’s The Morning Show for Best Television Series – Drama after the first season was largely snubbed from the awards conversation.
Armstrong was slightly more muted than when he picked up the Emmy for outstanding writing for a drama series. He thanked a number of HBO execs including former HBO CEO Richard Plepler, programming chief Casey Bloys and drama boss Francesca Orsi. “For everyone else who worked on the show, it’s a team show,” said Armstrong. “If you’ve ever appeared on the call sheet or the titles, congratulations, you’ve won a Golden Globe.”
The second season of the family saga...
The Roy family saga beat out HBO’s Big Little Lies, Netflix’s The Crown, BBC America’s Killing Eve and Apple TV+’s The Morning Show for Best Television Series – Drama after the first season was largely snubbed from the awards conversation.
Armstrong was slightly more muted than when he picked up the Emmy for outstanding writing for a drama series. He thanked a number of HBO execs including former HBO CEO Richard Plepler, programming chief Casey Bloys and drama boss Francesca Orsi. “For everyone else who worked on the show, it’s a team show,” said Armstrong. “If you’ve ever appeared on the call sheet or the titles, congratulations, you’ve won a Golden Globe.”
The second season of the family saga...
- 1/6/2020
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
HBO has given out a series order to the untitled one-hour drama about the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s.
The project had originally been ordered to pilot at the premium cabler back in April. The show is described as chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties.
The show stars: John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss, Jason Clarke as Jerry West, Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson, Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Gaby Hoffmann as Claire Rothman, Hadley Robinson as Jeanie Buss, DeVaughn Nixon as Norm Nixon, Molly Gordon as Linda Zafrani, Rob Morgan as Earvin Johnson Sr., Spencer Garrett as Chick Hearn, Kirk Bovill as Donald Sterling, Delante Desouza as Michael Cooper, Stephen Adly Guirgis as Frank Mariani, Tamera Tomakili as Earletha ‘Cookie’ Kelly, and Joey Brooks as Lon Rosen.
The show is based on Jeff Pearlman’s non-fiction book “Showtime: Magic,...
The project had originally been ordered to pilot at the premium cabler back in April. The show is described as chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties.
The show stars: John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss, Jason Clarke as Jerry West, Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson, Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Gaby Hoffmann as Claire Rothman, Hadley Robinson as Jeanie Buss, DeVaughn Nixon as Norm Nixon, Molly Gordon as Linda Zafrani, Rob Morgan as Earvin Johnson Sr., Spencer Garrett as Chick Hearn, Kirk Bovill as Donald Sterling, Delante Desouza as Michael Cooper, Stephen Adly Guirgis as Frank Mariani, Tamera Tomakili as Earletha ‘Cookie’ Kelly, and Joey Brooks as Lon Rosen.
The show is based on Jeff Pearlman’s non-fiction book “Showtime: Magic,...
- 12/6/2019
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
HBO has given a series order to The Untitled Lakers Project, a one-hour limited series drama based on Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, produced by Oscar winner Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries. The project marks the first limited series under Hyperobject Industries’ recently announced five-year, first-look television deal with HBO, to develop content for both HBO and HBO Max.
Written by Max Borenstein (Godzilla), based on Pearlman’s book, The Untitled Lakers Project is a fast-break series chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties—a team that defined its era, both on and off the court.
Cast includes John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss; Jason Clarke as Jerry West; Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson; Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; Gaby Hoffmann as Claire Rothman; Hadley Robinson...
Written by Max Borenstein (Godzilla), based on Pearlman’s book, The Untitled Lakers Project is a fast-break series chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties—a team that defined its era, both on and off the court.
Cast includes John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss; Jason Clarke as Jerry West; Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson; Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; Gaby Hoffmann as Claire Rothman; Hadley Robinson...
- 12/6/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
HBO has ordered Adam McKay’s drama about the 1980s “Showtime” era Los Angeles Lakers to series.
Based on the Jeff Pearlman book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s,” the untitled show will dramatize the professional and personal lives of the 1980s team, described in the series logline as “one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties-a team that defined its era, both on and off the court.”
Jason Clarke stars as Jerry West, the “cantankerous tortured genius of basketball” and one-time Lakers general manager. John C. Reilly will play former Lakers owner Jerry Buss, with Quincy Isaiah and Solomon Hughes as former Lakers legends Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, respectively.
Also Read: HBO's 1980s Lakers Pilot Casts Its Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Additional cast includes Hadley Robinson as Jeanie Buss, the daughter of Jerry and the current Lakers owner, Spencer Garrett...
Based on the Jeff Pearlman book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s,” the untitled show will dramatize the professional and personal lives of the 1980s team, described in the series logline as “one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties-a team that defined its era, both on and off the court.”
Jason Clarke stars as Jerry West, the “cantankerous tortured genius of basketball” and one-time Lakers general manager. John C. Reilly will play former Lakers owner Jerry Buss, with Quincy Isaiah and Solomon Hughes as former Lakers legends Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, respectively.
Also Read: HBO's 1980s Lakers Pilot Casts Its Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Additional cast includes Hadley Robinson as Jeanie Buss, the daughter of Jerry and the current Lakers owner, Spencer Garrett...
- 12/6/2019
- by Tim Baysinger
- The Wrap
The Hollywood Radio and Television Society has a new board of directors.
Hrts today announced its newly-elected board is made up of leaders from across the industry, who will serve three-year terms starting this month.
The board includes Kate Adler, Evp, Comedy Development, CBS Television Studios; Charlie Andrews, Evp, Drama Programming, Development & Event Series, Fox; Nick Grad, President of Original Programming, FX Entertainment; entertainment executive David Madden, who most recently served as President of Programming, AMC, BBC America, IFC, SundanceTV, and AMC Studios; Andrew Miller, Agent, Television Department, CAA; Francesca Orsi, Evp and Head of Drama Programming, HBO; Craig Piligian, President/CEO, Pilgrim Media Group; Beatrice Springborn, VP, Content Development, Hulu; Odetta Watkins, Evp, Current Programming, Warner Bros. Television.
Hrts also announced the inaugural Hrts Advisory Council formed by the board of directors.
“Hrts exists to be a valuable resource to individual members at every level of their career and...
Hrts today announced its newly-elected board is made up of leaders from across the industry, who will serve three-year terms starting this month.
The board includes Kate Adler, Evp, Comedy Development, CBS Television Studios; Charlie Andrews, Evp, Drama Programming, Development & Event Series, Fox; Nick Grad, President of Original Programming, FX Entertainment; entertainment executive David Madden, who most recently served as President of Programming, AMC, BBC America, IFC, SundanceTV, and AMC Studios; Andrew Miller, Agent, Television Department, CAA; Francesca Orsi, Evp and Head of Drama Programming, HBO; Craig Piligian, President/CEO, Pilgrim Media Group; Beatrice Springborn, VP, Content Development, Hulu; Odetta Watkins, Evp, Current Programming, Warner Bros. Television.
Hrts also announced the inaugural Hrts Advisory Council formed by the board of directors.
“Hrts exists to be a valuable resource to individual members at every level of their career and...
- 9/10/2019
- by Anita Bennett
- Deadline Film + TV
David Levine has found a landing spot a few weeks after leaving HBO, being named president of TV at Anonymous Content.
Levine stepped down as co-head of HBO drama series earlier this month. His position with Anonymous Content is a newly created one for the company, and will see him oversee the division with a focus on developing and producing projects.
Levine was named co-head of HBO drama series in June 2016. He’d been in charge of “Westworld” and “True Detective,” and worked on “Sharp Objects,” “Game of Thrones” and “True Blood.” Francesca Orsi now oversees the department on her own.
Also Read: David Levine Out at HBO, Francesca Orsi to Oversee Drama Development Solo
“David has unparalleled creativity and vision for television, accomplishing incredible things at HBO with a body of work that speaks for itself,” said Anonymous Content partners in a statement. “Over the past 10 years many of...
Levine stepped down as co-head of HBO drama series earlier this month. His position with Anonymous Content is a newly created one for the company, and will see him oversee the division with a focus on developing and producing projects.
Levine was named co-head of HBO drama series in June 2016. He’d been in charge of “Westworld” and “True Detective,” and worked on “Sharp Objects,” “Game of Thrones” and “True Blood.” Francesca Orsi now oversees the department on her own.
Also Read: David Levine Out at HBO, Francesca Orsi to Oversee Drama Development Solo
“David has unparalleled creativity and vision for television, accomplishing incredible things at HBO with a body of work that speaks for itself,” said Anonymous Content partners in a statement. “Over the past 10 years many of...
- 2/27/2019
- by Tim Baysinger
- The Wrap
HBO co-head of drama development and programming David Levine is stepping down from the company. Francesca Orsi will now oversee the department on her own. The two are pictured together above.
“David has been a valued member of the HBO family for 10 years and worked on some of our finest shows,” HBO chief Casey Bloys said on Thursday. “We look forward to working with him as a producer on projects in the years to come. We’re thrilled that Francesca will step up to head of drama programming.”
Levine, who will return to producing, was named co-head of HBO drama series in June 2016. He’s been in charge of “Westworld” and “True Detective,” and worked on “Sharp Objects,” “Game of Thrones” and “True Blood.”
Also Read: HBO Shares 14 New 'Game of Thrones' Season 8 Photos, And Everybody Looks Basically the Same
Orsi ran point on “Big Little Lies,” “Game of Thrones” and “Boardwalk Empire.
“David has been a valued member of the HBO family for 10 years and worked on some of our finest shows,” HBO chief Casey Bloys said on Thursday. “We look forward to working with him as a producer on projects in the years to come. We’re thrilled that Francesca will step up to head of drama programming.”
Levine, who will return to producing, was named co-head of HBO drama series in June 2016. He’s been in charge of “Westworld” and “True Detective,” and worked on “Sharp Objects,” “Game of Thrones” and “True Blood.”
Also Read: HBO Shares 14 New 'Game of Thrones' Season 8 Photos, And Everybody Looks Basically the Same
Orsi ran point on “Big Little Lies,” “Game of Thrones” and “Boardwalk Empire.
- 2/7/2019
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
David Levine, the co-head of drama at HBO, is departing the premium cabler, Variety has learned.
Francesca Orsi, Levine’s fellow co-head of drama, will now oversee drama series for HBO on her own.
“David has been a valued member of the HBO family for 10 years and worked on some of our finest shows,” said Casey Bloys, president of programming for HBO. “We look forward to working with him as a producer on projects in the years to come. We’re thrilled that Francesca will step up to head of drama programming.”
Levine currently oversees both “Westworld” and “True Detective.” He also oversaw project such as “Sharp Objects,” “Game of Thrones,” “The Knick,” and “True Blood.” His other recent projects include “The Outsider,” “The Nevers,” “Demimonde,” and the “Game of Thrones” prequel pilot.
Levine was promoted to his current position in 2016. He joined as a consultant in 2009, becoming director of...
Francesca Orsi, Levine’s fellow co-head of drama, will now oversee drama series for HBO on her own.
“David has been a valued member of the HBO family for 10 years and worked on some of our finest shows,” said Casey Bloys, president of programming for HBO. “We look forward to working with him as a producer on projects in the years to come. We’re thrilled that Francesca will step up to head of drama programming.”
Levine currently oversees both “Westworld” and “True Detective.” He also oversaw project such as “Sharp Objects,” “Game of Thrones,” “The Knick,” and “True Blood.” His other recent projects include “The Outsider,” “The Nevers,” “Demimonde,” and the “Game of Thrones” prequel pilot.
Levine was promoted to his current position in 2016. He joined as a consultant in 2009, becoming director of...
- 2/7/2019
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: David Levine, HBO’s Evp and Co-Head of Drama, is leaving the premium cable network after a decade to return to producing. Fellow Evp and Co-Head of Drama Francesca Orsi will become solo head of the department.
“David has been a valued member of the HBO family for 10 years and worked on some of our finest shows,” HBO programming president Casey Bloys said in a statement to Deadline. “We look forward to working with him as a producer on projects in the years to come. We’re thrilled that Francesca will step up to head of drama programming.”
The series Levine oversaw during his tenure include HBO’s Westworld, True Detective, Sharp Objects, Game of Thrones and True Blood as well as Cinemax’s The Knick. Levine, who also recently oversaw development on The Outsider, The Nevers, Demimonde and the Got prequel, is expected to continue to work on...
“David has been a valued member of the HBO family for 10 years and worked on some of our finest shows,” HBO programming president Casey Bloys said in a statement to Deadline. “We look forward to working with him as a producer on projects in the years to come. We’re thrilled that Francesca will step up to head of drama programming.”
The series Levine oversaw during his tenure include HBO’s Westworld, True Detective, Sharp Objects, Game of Thrones and True Blood as well as Cinemax’s The Knick. Levine, who also recently oversaw development on The Outsider, The Nevers, Demimonde and the Got prequel, is expected to continue to work on...
- 2/7/2019
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
David Levine, executive vp and co-head of drama at HBO, is departing the premium cable outlet.
Levine, who has been at HBO for 10 years, is leaving to return to producing. Francesca Orsi, also executive vp and co-head of drama, will run the department on her own.
"David has been a valued member of the HBO family for 10 years and worked on some of our finest shows," said HBO programming president Casey Bloys. "We look forward to working with him as a producer on projects in the years to come. We're thrilled that Francesca ...
Levine, who has been at HBO for 10 years, is leaving to return to producing. Francesca Orsi, also executive vp and co-head of drama, will run the department on her own.
"David has been a valued member of the HBO family for 10 years and worked on some of our finest shows," said HBO programming president Casey Bloys. "We look forward to working with him as a producer on projects in the years to come. We're thrilled that Francesca ...
After scoring a coup with the TV adaptation of “My Brilliant Friend,” and with projects such as Paolo Sorrentino’s “The New Pope” and Oscar-nominated director Pawel Pawlikowski’s next film in the pipeline, Italy’s Wildside is in a pretty brilliant spot.
Ten years after being co-founded by producers Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli, the shingle is expanding its international footprint and is on its way toward becoming, as Mieli puts it, “a home for big auteurs, both directors and writers…who can generate stories that can travel.” This can also mean mainstream-minded talents, he said.
That game plan includes Wildside’s first English-language series, about the life of film and fashion icon Audrey Hepburn, and other high-end projects in various stages. Among these is an “ambitious” new film by U.S.-trained Italian director Emanuele Crialese, who broke out with “Respiro” and helmed an episode of the recent Getty kidnap series “Trust.
Ten years after being co-founded by producers Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli, the shingle is expanding its international footprint and is on its way toward becoming, as Mieli puts it, “a home for big auteurs, both directors and writers…who can generate stories that can travel.” This can also mean mainstream-minded talents, he said.
That game plan includes Wildside’s first English-language series, about the life of film and fashion icon Audrey Hepburn, and other high-end projects in various stages. Among these is an “ambitious” new film by U.S.-trained Italian director Emanuele Crialese, who broke out with “Respiro” and helmed an episode of the recent Getty kidnap series “Trust.
- 2/4/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Rbg director Julie Cohen, eOne’s Chief Strategy Officer Peter Micelli, Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon and HBO’s former entertainment chief Sue Naegle, who is now Annapurna Pictures’ Head of TV, are among the latest tranche of A-list names speaking at Keshet’s Intv conference.
The event, which is hosted and curated by Keshet Media Group and co-produced by Deadline, takes place March 11-12 in Jerusalem.
The foursome will be joined by Channel 4’s Drama Commissioning Editor, Lee Mason, Lauren Anderson, Chief Content Officer Lauren Anderson of NBC/Snapchat joint venture Indigo Development and Entertainment Arts, who previously oversaw scripted hits including Parks and Recreation and The Office, lawyer Victoria S. Cook, partner at Frankfurt Kurnit and a member of the Entertainment Group, Gil Goldschein, Chairman and CEO of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Real World producer Bunim/Murray Productions, ITV Entertainment’s Commissioner Joe Mace, and Storied Media Group...
The event, which is hosted and curated by Keshet Media Group and co-produced by Deadline, takes place March 11-12 in Jerusalem.
The foursome will be joined by Channel 4’s Drama Commissioning Editor, Lee Mason, Lauren Anderson, Chief Content Officer Lauren Anderson of NBC/Snapchat joint venture Indigo Development and Entertainment Arts, who previously oversaw scripted hits including Parks and Recreation and The Office, lawyer Victoria S. Cook, partner at Frankfurt Kurnit and a member of the Entertainment Group, Gil Goldschein, Chairman and CEO of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Real World producer Bunim/Murray Productions, ITV Entertainment’s Commissioner Joe Mace, and Storied Media Group...
- 1/17/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Mark Burnett is the latest A-list Hollywood exec to sign up to speak at Keshet’s Intv conference.
The Apprentice creator and Chairman of MGM Worldwide Television Group will give a keynote speech at the event, which is hosted and curated by Keshet Media Group and co-produced by Deadline, takes place March 11-12 in Jerusalem.
He will speak alongside the likes of Cindy Holland, Netflix’s Head of Original Programming, Greg Berlanti and former Channel 4 CEO and founder of Wonderhood Studios, David Abraham, who were both announced earlier this month.
Elsewhere, CNN’s Amy Entelis, former StudioCanal UK chief Danny Perkins and Zdf’s Simone Emmelius will speak at the event, which takes place at the Ymca Jerusalem.
Entelis, who is Executive Vice President for talent and content development at CNN Worldwide and also oversees CNN Films and Original Series, was responsible for recent feature doc hits Three Identical...
The Apprentice creator and Chairman of MGM Worldwide Television Group will give a keynote speech at the event, which is hosted and curated by Keshet Media Group and co-produced by Deadline, takes place March 11-12 in Jerusalem.
He will speak alongside the likes of Cindy Holland, Netflix’s Head of Original Programming, Greg Berlanti and former Channel 4 CEO and founder of Wonderhood Studios, David Abraham, who were both announced earlier this month.
Elsewhere, CNN’s Amy Entelis, former StudioCanal UK chief Danny Perkins and Zdf’s Simone Emmelius will speak at the event, which takes place at the Ymca Jerusalem.
Entelis, who is Executive Vice President for talent and content development at CNN Worldwide and also oversees CNN Films and Original Series, was responsible for recent feature doc hits Three Identical...
- 12/19/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix’s Cindy Holland and The Flash and Arrow producer Greg Berlanti are two of the A-list names headlining Keshet’s Intv conference.
The event, which is hosted and curated by Keshet Media Group and co-produced by Deadline, takes place March 11-12 in Jerusalem.
Holland, who is Head of Original Programming at the Svod service, is a keynote speaker, while Berlanti, who is fresh from signing a major production deal with Warner Bros Television, is a panelist alongside Jan Mojto, boss of German producer and distributor Beta Film, UnREAL writer and exec producer Stacy Rukeyser, Starz’ President of Programming Carmi Zlotnik. Former Channel 4 CEO David Abraham, who recently founded production business and advertising studios Wonderhood Studios will also give a keynote presentation.
A number of other names in the world of entertainment, news, sport and digital media are set to be revealed in the coming weeks.
Last year’s event...
The event, which is hosted and curated by Keshet Media Group and co-produced by Deadline, takes place March 11-12 in Jerusalem.
Holland, who is Head of Original Programming at the Svod service, is a keynote speaker, while Berlanti, who is fresh from signing a major production deal with Warner Bros Television, is a panelist alongside Jan Mojto, boss of German producer and distributor Beta Film, UnREAL writer and exec producer Stacy Rukeyser, Starz’ President of Programming Carmi Zlotnik. Former Channel 4 CEO David Abraham, who recently founded production business and advertising studios Wonderhood Studios will also give a keynote presentation.
A number of other names in the world of entertainment, news, sport and digital media are set to be revealed in the coming weeks.
Last year’s event...
- 12/5/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Deadline is heading back to Jerusalem after partnering with Israeli producer and distributor Keshet Media Group on international conference Intv 2019.
The event, which is being held for its sixth iteration on March 11 and 12, is hosted and curated by Keshet Media Group and co-produced by Deadline for the first time as a headline sponsor.
With a history of generating international news stories, including last year’s revelation that The Crown’s Claire Foy was paid less than her co-star Matt Smith, and industry-wide conversation, Intv provides a stage for the news-making pioneers and visionaries that shape the global content and media business. The impactful but intimate conference has gained widespread recognition for both the caliber of speakers and level of insight it provides attendees in an accessible way, thanks to being curated and organized by content and media executives.
Last year’s 2018 conference lineup featured Fox Television Group Chairman-ceo Gary Newman...
The event, which is being held for its sixth iteration on March 11 and 12, is hosted and curated by Keshet Media Group and co-produced by Deadline for the first time as a headline sponsor.
With a history of generating international news stories, including last year’s revelation that The Crown’s Claire Foy was paid less than her co-star Matt Smith, and industry-wide conversation, Intv provides a stage for the news-making pioneers and visionaries that shape the global content and media business. The impactful but intimate conference has gained widespread recognition for both the caliber of speakers and level of insight it provides attendees in an accessible way, thanks to being curated and organized by content and media executives.
Last year’s 2018 conference lineup featured Fox Television Group Chairman-ceo Gary Newman...
- 10/15/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
HBO is betting fervent interest will be stronger than an historical aversion to fully subtitled programming when it comes to “My Brilliant Friend,” an upcoming HBO, Rai Fiction and TimVision series produced by Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani for Wildside and by Domenico Procacci for Fandango in co-production with Umedia Production.
Based on the first of four “Neapolitan Novels” by pseudonymous Italian author Elena Ferrante, the HBO series will break ground for subtitles in mainstream U.S. programming. German-language “Deutschland 83” and Italian “Gomorrah” both aired domestically on Sundance TV, but “My Brilliant Friend” on HBO marks the most mainstream outlet for a fully subtitled series to date.
Lorenzo De Maio, agent at Endeavor Content, says while in the past subtitled programs in the U.S. resulted in a niche audience, that’s changing due to global platforms.
“Think about ‘3%’ on Netflix, which is a brilliant show [in Portuguese], or ‘Babylon Berlin’ in German,...
Based on the first of four “Neapolitan Novels” by pseudonymous Italian author Elena Ferrante, the HBO series will break ground for subtitles in mainstream U.S. programming. German-language “Deutschland 83” and Italian “Gomorrah” both aired domestically on Sundance TV, but “My Brilliant Friend” on HBO marks the most mainstream outlet for a fully subtitled series to date.
Lorenzo De Maio, agent at Endeavor Content, says while in the past subtitled programs in the U.S. resulted in a niche audience, that’s changing due to global platforms.
“Think about ‘3%’ on Netflix, which is a brilliant show [in Portuguese], or ‘Babylon Berlin’ in German,...
- 4/7/2018
- by Rob Owen
- Variety Film + TV
The way early reviews are in, and Ser Jorah Mormont is giving Game of Thrones‘ series finale a greyscale-free thumbs-up.
Iain Glen, who has played Daenerys’ loyal knight since the HBO fantasy drama’s start, recently told Ians that he was among the small group of people who’ve seen the final episode’s script. “When I read it, I thought it was rather brilliant,” he said. “I am a bit of a fan of the series, as well, and it satiated my expectations and hopes.”
The report comes in the same week that an HBO executive told an audience...
Iain Glen, who has played Daenerys’ loyal knight since the HBO fantasy drama’s start, recently told Ians that he was among the small group of people who’ve seen the final episode’s script. “When I read it, I thought it was rather brilliant,” he said. “I am a bit of a fan of the series, as well, and it satiated my expectations and hopes.”
The report comes in the same week that an HBO executive told an audience...
- 3/15/2018
- TVLine.com
The final season of “Game of Thrones” promises to be just as bloody, if not more so, than the past seasons that gave the HBO blockbuster a reputation for bloodletting. Speaking at the Intv Conference in Israel on a panel called “The Best of HBO,” the premium network’s Svp of drama, Francesca Orsi, promised that a whole bunch of the main cast will be killed off “one by one” during the eighth and final season that will air next year. During the panel, Orsi discussed the first table read of the scripts for the six episodes that will make up the...
- 3/14/2018
- by Phil Owen
- The Wrap
An HBO executive has apologized for saying the network was “raped” by the contract renegotiations for the cast of “Big Little Lies” heading into Season 2. Speaking at the Intv conference in Israel on Tuesday, Francesca Orsi, HBO’s senior vice president of drama, said renegotiating the contracts for the A-list “Big Little Lies” cast — none of whom had options in place to return to the planned one-off series before it became an award-winning hit — resulted in the network being “sort of raped” financially. “Obviously, I am embarrassed by my poor choice of words,” Orsi said in a follow-up statement...
- 3/13/2018
- by Reid Nakamura
- The Wrap
HBO can't give a definitive timeline for when to expect the first Game of Thrones spinoff (last word was not before 2020), but they can tell you they are planning a massive budget for it. Uproxx reports that the prequels will, at the very least, have a budget much higher than the series did in Seasons 1-5. For an idea of just how much that was, check out this quote from HBO's senior VP of drama Francesca Orsi:
“$50 million (per season) would never fly for what we are trying to do. We are going big.”
There are no definitive numbers on what last season of Game of Thrones cost to produce, but estimates have climbed as high as $15 million an episode. Orsi didn't specify how much HBO is willing to spend, but it appears as though HBO is ready to break out the pocketbook at a chance at creating another record-breaking series.
“$50 million (per season) would never fly for what we are trying to do. We are going big.”
There are no definitive numbers on what last season of Game of Thrones cost to produce, but estimates have climbed as high as $15 million an episode. Orsi didn't specify how much HBO is willing to spend, but it appears as though HBO is ready to break out the pocketbook at a chance at creating another record-breaking series.
- 3/13/2018
- by Mick Joest
- GeekTyrant
While participating on "The Best of HBO" panel in Jerusalem at the Intv Conference, HBO executives Francesca Orsi (Svp of drama), Casey Bloys (programming president), and David Levine (drama chief) were joined by moderator Marc Korman of Wme for some detailed talks about what the future holds for the network's epic swords and sorcery program, Game Of Thrones. As they... Read More...
- 3/13/2018
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
There is life beyond Game of Thrones season 8.
Speaking at a panel titled “The Best of HBO” on Tuesday, Francesca Orsi, the network’s senior VP of drama, touched base on what the future holds for Game of Thrones in 2019 and beyond, and it seems as though HBO plans to bring the big guns when it comes to those mooted successor series.
George R.R. Martin, the creative mastermind behind A Song of Ice and Fire, is actively developing each spinoff alongside their respective writers, which tells us that the first should be ready to take flight in 2020 – exactly one year after the premiere of Thrones‘ eighth and final season. Whatever the case, the final product will seemingly boast the same production values as its fantastical forebear.
$50 million (per season) would never fly for what we are trying to do. We are going big.
Game Of Thrones Bts Pics 1 of 6
Click...
Speaking at a panel titled “The Best of HBO” on Tuesday, Francesca Orsi, the network’s senior VP of drama, touched base on what the future holds for Game of Thrones in 2019 and beyond, and it seems as though HBO plans to bring the big guns when it comes to those mooted successor series.
George R.R. Martin, the creative mastermind behind A Song of Ice and Fire, is actively developing each spinoff alongside their respective writers, which tells us that the first should be ready to take flight in 2020 – exactly one year after the premiere of Thrones‘ eighth and final season. Whatever the case, the final product will seemingly boast the same production values as its fantastical forebear.
$50 million (per season) would never fly for what we are trying to do. We are going big.
Game Of Thrones Bts Pics 1 of 6
Click...
- 3/13/2018
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
HBO drama chief Francesca Orsi says she is “embarrassed” for using the word “raped” to describe how she feels the broadcaster has been taken advantage over star costs for the second season of its breakout Big Little Lies. As Deadline reported earlier, speaking at the Keshet-organized conference Intv in Jerusalem, Orsi admitted that HBO had been in a tough situation after the Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman-fronted limited series drama was picked up for a second…...
- 3/13/2018
- Deadline TV
It looks like HBO isn’t scared of Netflix or Amazon and is definitely producing at least one “Game of Thrones” spin-off series, according to two HBO executives.
In a report from Deadline, HBO’s Casey Bloys and Francesca Orsi were speaking at the Keshet-organized conference INTV in Jerusalem. While they talked about how the final season of “Game of Thrones” is going to be an emotional event, with many characters dying (obviously), the real news came when they discussed the future of the network, and how they’re planning on competing with Netflix and Amazon, as those two companies throw millions of dollars at high-profile creators.
In a report from Deadline, HBO’s Casey Bloys and Francesca Orsi were speaking at the Keshet-organized conference INTV in Jerusalem. While they talked about how the final season of “Game of Thrones” is going to be an emotional event, with many characters dying (obviously), the real news came when they discussed the future of the network, and how they’re planning on competing with Netflix and Amazon, as those two companies throw millions of dollars at high-profile creators.
- 3/13/2018
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
HBO programming exec Francesca Orsi is “embarrassed” about using the word “rape” to describe the salary demands made by the Big Little Lies cast upon the ordering of Season 2.
Adapted from the bestselling Liane Moriarty novel, Big Little Lies was originally greenlit by the premium cabler as a single-season limited series. As such, no deals were in place for the likes of Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon to return, once an unanticipated second season of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning series was ordered in December.
HBO thus was left to pay market price for any returning cast, including Emmy winners Kidman and Laura Dern,...
Adapted from the bestselling Liane Moriarty novel, Big Little Lies was originally greenlit by the premium cabler as a single-season limited series. As such, no deals were in place for the likes of Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon to return, once an unanticipated second season of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning series was ordered in December.
HBO thus was left to pay market price for any returning cast, including Emmy winners Kidman and Laura Dern,...
- 3/13/2018
- TVLine.com
Update (March 13): Orsi has issued a statement in which she says she regrets using the term “raped.” The statement reads: “Obviously, I am embarrassed by my poor choice of words. We are extremely proud of ‘Big Little Lies’ and excited for the second season.”
HBO drama chief Francesca Orsi and programming president Casey Bloys got brutally honesty during an Intv panel in Jerusalem, Israel (via Deadline) in which they expressed some worry over the network’s skyrocketing budget. Orsi said the network was put in an especially tough spot following the surprise second season renewal of “Big Little Lies,” which was originally conceived at HBO as a one-and-done “limited series.”
“From a budget stand point going into season two of ‘Big Little Lies’ without any options in place we’ve been short of raped,” Orsi said.
The budget for “Big Little Lies” Season 2 has reportedly escalated mainly due to cast salaries.
HBO drama chief Francesca Orsi and programming president Casey Bloys got brutally honesty during an Intv panel in Jerusalem, Israel (via Deadline) in which they expressed some worry over the network’s skyrocketing budget. Orsi said the network was put in an especially tough spot following the surprise second season renewal of “Big Little Lies,” which was originally conceived at HBO as a one-and-done “limited series.”
“From a budget stand point going into season two of ‘Big Little Lies’ without any options in place we’ve been short of raped,” Orsi said.
The budget for “Big Little Lies” Season 2 has reportedly escalated mainly due to cast salaries.
- 3/13/2018
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
To say that death does not take a holiday during Game of Thrones‘ farewell season is, apparently, a massive understatement.
Speaking at the Intv conference in Israel on Tuesday, HBO’s Svp of drama Francesca Orsi recalled being present at the table read for the drama’s final six episodes. “It was a really powerful moment in our lives and our careers,” she shared during a panel titled The Best of HBO (per our sister outlet Variety). The exec then went on to drop this killer, cryptic tease: “None of the cast had received the scripts prior, and one by...
Speaking at the Intv conference in Israel on Tuesday, HBO’s Svp of drama Francesca Orsi recalled being present at the table read for the drama’s final six episodes. “It was a really powerful moment in our lives and our careers,” she shared during a panel titled The Best of HBO (per our sister outlet Variety). The exec then went on to drop this killer, cryptic tease: “None of the cast had received the scripts prior, and one by...
- 3/13/2018
- TVLine.com
HBO drama chief Francesca Orsi has taken a swipe at rival Amazon and admitted that the broadcaster has been taken advantage over star costs for the second season of Big Little Lies in an explosive panel session that also touched on Game of Thrones and its forthcoming spin-offs. Orsi, speaking at the Keshet-organized conference Intv in Jerusalem, admitted that the premium broadcaster had been in a tough situation after the Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman-fronted…...
- 3/13/2018
- Deadline TV
France TV event selects 16 projects from Keshet, Haut et Court and Studio Lambert.
Paris-based TV festival Séries Mania has unveiled the 16 projects that will participate in the 2017 edition of its co-production forum (April 18-21).
The selection includes Girl On A Wire from UK outfit Studio Lambert, creators of hit Channel4 series Gogglebox [pictured].
Another participating UK production will be Dead Meet from Eleventh Hour Films, the outfit behind recent series of period drama Foyle’s War.
Further companies bringing projects to the market include Endemol Shine Italy, Haut et Court TV, Lemming Film, and Keshet International.
Expanding from three to four days this year, the Séries Mania selection team received 300 projects from 39 countries.
Featuring conferences, presentations, panels and networking events, the pitching forum aims to help the project teams meet finance partners through co-production deals and presale agreements.
The five industry figures on this year’s jury are: Francesca Orsi, co-head of drama, HBO; [link...
Paris-based TV festival Séries Mania has unveiled the 16 projects that will participate in the 2017 edition of its co-production forum (April 18-21).
The selection includes Girl On A Wire from UK outfit Studio Lambert, creators of hit Channel4 series Gogglebox [pictured].
Another participating UK production will be Dead Meet from Eleventh Hour Films, the outfit behind recent series of period drama Foyle’s War.
Further companies bringing projects to the market include Endemol Shine Italy, Haut et Court TV, Lemming Film, and Keshet International.
Expanding from three to four days this year, the Séries Mania selection team received 300 projects from 39 countries.
Featuring conferences, presentations, panels and networking events, the pitching forum aims to help the project teams meet finance partners through co-production deals and presale agreements.
The five industry figures on this year’s jury are: Francesca Orsi, co-head of drama, HBO; [link...
- 3/27/2017
- by tom.grater@screendaily.com (Tom Grater)
- ScreenDaily
Casey Bloys has made his first executive appointment as president of HBO Programming, naming the network’s veterans Francesca Orsi and David Levine as co-heads of drama series. The two were promoted to Svp in 2014 and had been the senior drama development executives under Bloys since the departure of head of drama Michael Ellenberg in January. They will oversee the development and production of all drama series for the network, reporting to Bloys. Amy Gravitt runs…...
- 6/9/2016
- Deadline TV
HBO has named Programming Senior Vice Presidents Francesca Orsi and David Levine as co-heads of drama series, TheWrap has confirmed. “Francesca and David have long histories at HBO. They understand the brand intimately and enjoy strong, respected relationships with the creative community,” said Casey Bloys, president, HBO Programming. “In this new structure, two talented executives are in a position to quickly green light HBO’s next great slate of drama series.” Both executives directly report to Bloys. Also Read: 'Game of Thrones' Season 6 Finale Will Be Longest Episode Ever Orsi currently oversees the upcoming “Big Little Lies” and “Vinyl.
- 6/9/2016
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
HBO is filling out its executive ranks in the wake of programming president Michael Lombardo's departure. The cable network has named Francesca Orsi and David Levine as co-heads of drama series. The promotions follow Casey Bloys' elevation to Lombardo's post in May. Together, Orsi and Levine — both serving most recently as senior vps of HBO programming — will now oversee the development and production of all of the network's drama series. { "nid": 896346, "type": "news", "title": "HBO Shake-Up: Casey Bloys Named President of Programming ", "path": "http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hbo-shake-up-casey-bloys-896346", "relative-path": "/news/hbo-shake-up-casey-bloys-
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- 6/9/2016
- by Bryn Elise Sandberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
HBO is bringing another executive/producer from the feature world to its drama team. Nora Skinner has joined HBO as Svp, HBO Programming, reporting to the network’s head of drama, Evp HBO Programming Michael Ellenberg, who also came from a feature background. Based in HBO’s Santa Monica office, Skinner will oversee the development and production of current and new original drama series, working alongside drama execs David Levine and Francesca Orsi. "Nora brings a wealth…...
- 10/8/2015
- Deadline TV
Will Scheffer speaks candidly with Susan Kouguell about the Getting On series, adapting material, collaborations, and more.
With their fingers on the pulse -- actually ten steps ahead of -- societal happenings and hot button topics, co-creators, executive producers, and writers on their Emmy and Golden Globe-winning HBO series Big Love, Will Scheffer and his partner Mark V. Olsen are fearless when tackling “difficult” subject matters in their television and film projects. With humor and pathos, Scheffer and Olsen continue to confront timely and challenging issues with their new series for HBO’s Getting On.
Will Scheffer is a playwright, writer/producer and filmmaker. His plays have been produced and developed across the country, including Playwright's Horizons, Naked Angels, The Public Theatre and Ensemble Studio Theater, where he’s had four plays in The Marathon. His first screenplay In the Gloaming, starring Glenn Close and directed by Christopher Reeve, was produced by HBO in 1997, and won many awards, including five Emmys. An attorney and member of the New York Bar, Mark V. Olsen has created, written, and produced several screenplays, teleplays, pilots and miniseries. For HBO, he wrote Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, Cabrina USA. In 2010, after being published in Best Plays of 1999, Olsen’s play Cornelia opened at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. Together, Scheffer and Olsen produced the independent feature based on Scheffer’s play by the same name, Easter in 2002, and that same year they created HBO’s acclaimed drama Big Love.
Kouguell: The HBO Web site synopsis describes Getting On: ‘The show follows the daily lives of overworked nurses and doctors as they struggle with the darkly comic realities of tending compassionately to their aging charges in a rundown, red-tape-filled hospital extended-care wing, blending outrageous humor with unexpected moments of tenderness.’ Anything else you would add to this description?
Scheffer: The show is about relationships -- as all our shows are -- the power struggles that come out of marriages between couples, or among small groups of individuals that work together out of choice or necessity. Getting On is about healthy and unhealthy codependence. It’s about love. It’s about how women in largely patriarchal systems learn to take their own power. It’s about class struggle and how it goes largely pushed into unconsciousness in our society and it’s about how the elderly, illness and the death experience is also compartmentalized in our society.
Getting On is largely about how we all deal with the process of aging and how we all care for the elderly. Like taxes and death, Mark and I think eldercare is becoming an unavoidable reality in our lives whether we like to deal with it or not. It’s becoming a shared fact of our existence, and Getting On tries to create a funny, safe place where an audience can find humor and compassion in that reality.
Kouguell: British television series like The Office have been successfully adapted for American TV. Getting On ran in Britain from 2009 – 2012. How did you come upon this show?
Scheffer: Mark and I had seen it in London while we were taking a vacation from our last season of Big Love and we were both dealing with caring for our aging mothers. We fell madly in love with the series and coincidentally had been working up a show of our own, set in the world of American eldercare. When we saw it we thought we should just adapt this series for American television. It’s an easier way to pitch an idea, and of course it gives us all this glorious material to work with.
Joanna Scanlon, Vicki Pepperdine, Jo Brand and Peter Capaldi, created an amazing show about the healthcare system in Great Britain and we felt it docked in perfectly with the kind of dark comedy we had in our heads about managed care in America and all the firsthand experiences we were going through with our moms.
Kouguell: What challenges and inspirations have you found while adapting this series?
Scheffer: The largest challenge, of course, is how to reimagine the characters and situations of the British version for an American audience and not to just “do a translation.” I think it was harder to translate a British show into American English than it might be to translate a Danish format such as The Killing or an Israeli format, such as In Treatment or Homeland.
You can be deceived into thinking you can just Americanize the dialogue and that is a huge trap when you love the original material. We had to fight that impulse. Also, we had to take the style of the British version, which is extremely “jump-cutty” and roughly assembled and improvised, and work backwards, almost to create our own “docu-comedy” style. We knew we weren’t going to do The Office but we didn’t know how challenging it would be to structure a script and a season the way we do and then make it look rougher. We love the result but it was extremely challenging for us as writers and for our entire creative team to discover our own style.
Our inspiration was largely drawn from our own ongoing experiences and then the actors we cast and the creative team we assembled. Adapting for these actors became a sublime treat and working with artists like Migel Arteta, Pam Martin, Tami Reiker, Jim Denault, Heather Persons, and also a lot of our Big Love team also was invaluable. And we had Jane Tranter, Julie Gardner, and Amy Hodge from BBC Worldwide as producing partners and they were incredible to work with. We got so much creative support from them.
This show (more than any other we’ve worked on) was a collaborative effort. Michael Lombardo, Casey Bloys and Francesca Orsi were very involved in our editorial process and I think this (sometimes uncomfortable) creative mix of smart people actually made the show different and better than what our vision alone foresaw. This was a rare instance of a lot of chefs in the kitchen actually producing a better stew.
Kouguell: How have you made it your own?
Scheffer: It was impossible not to make it our own. We lived a lot of what is seen on the show. Mark’s mom was in a small boarding care facility, which we were lucky to land her in when she developed dementia, and we had to bring her out to Pasadena to be near us. The caregivers and women there infuse our show. That was where we found tenderness and compassion. My mom was in the New York City healthcare system. She lived in a great assisted living apartment building, but when she got kicked out of hospitals and into Medicare “Rehabs” or what they call “skilled nursing facilities” the experience wasn’t so compassionate.
We used all of our personal knowledge of hospital life (which is considerable) and researched the hell of American geriatric care. We also imbued the show with our style and taste, which I would call simply: “Laughing and crying is good to do at the same time.” We cast actors who were vivid and real and very un-tv. They were all so talented and fiercely brave. We shot each episode in only three days. It’s unlike any TV show or film we’ve ever done.
Kouguell: Talk about your adaptation process.
Scheffer: We definitely started with all of the original material. We had no scripts though, so we had to first transcribe all the episodes from film (or video, as it were). We then picked and chose the material we knew was gold and worked endlessly on how we could compose a season structure -- knowing we had to compress their first two seasons of nine episodes into our first season of six.
We had some strong ideas of what we needed to do in order to achieve an American version as we had our ‘make someone happy campaign,’ which was based on our research of the Disneyfication of hospitals. We also knew we wanted to shake up the pilot and create a real dramatic reason of why there was a new head nurse (Patsy) coming into the ward and why Dr. Jenna James was stuck over here.
The British show has all these gold nuggets but since they worked in a more improvisational mode and we’re much more scripted, we had to take their nuggets and weave them into our structural considerations. Also, once we saw how the pilot worked with our cast, we identified a kind of idea of what each episode should have in it, to fulfill what we saw as a winning episode structure.
Our cast was so talented we knew we could always have a physical slapstick element and real emotional stakes side-by-side. We wanted each episode to have a laugh out loud scene that played against the dark comedy and realities of what happens in an extended care wing.
Also, the show was rebuilt in the editing room. We actually took more time to edit an episode than we did to shoot it. We had plenty of material but we essentially rewrote the show many, many times from before production, through rehearsals, and then in the editing room. When we completed the first episode I turned to Mark and said, “Oh my God, we actually made a black comedy.” Something which we knew was really hard to do and we made one that had a heart.
Kouguell: How do your characters in Getting On depart from the original British series?
Scheffer: The characters are very similar to the original ones except of course they are completely different. Jenna James is Doctor Moore in principal, but Laurie Metcalfe brings a fierceness and virtuosity to the role that makes the character’s inner life more roiling with insecurity. We began to see that in the world of the show, all the other characters saw Dr. James as imperious and incompetent at the same time, but failed to see what the audience saw -- a woman who is falling apart inside.
Nurse Dawn, as played by the multi-talented Alex Borstein, became more co-dependent, needing to always please Jenna, and also blatantly psychologically immature. Her core is the same as Joanna’s wonderful Den, a woman without an inherent self-esteem but I think our Dawn became more outrageously confused.
All our characters are less constrained and polite than the British cast. I would say that you see “America versus our British cousins” in the way all the characters become more visceral. Didi differs the most. In the British show she’s played by the amazing comedienne Jo Brand, as a retiree coming back into the workforce. Niecey, in what I think is a transformative role for her, is younger and of color. I think she retains what Kim (Jo Brand) is to the show, its tender heart, but somehow Niecey manages to bring her comedy skills yet delivers such a subtle earthiness to her performance; she is the beating heart at the center of the show.
It’s a hard question when I answer it, because in a way I see that the characters essentially are the same but completely different at the same time. It’s in the writing but it’s what these actors brought to all their roles. There was only one right actor for each of these roles and they all give award-worthy performances in my book. They just made the characters their own, which is what you want from an actor and we began to write to who we saw they were becoming in the parts. I think the old saying about casting being 99 percent of a successful production was what we knew we had to achieve for this show. It was really hard to cast, but we held out for the perfect actor for each role and they delivered.
Kouguell: What drew you to this material and why did you feel that it could be ‘translated’ for an American audience?
Scheffer: The British show is about the “National Health” and three women who are “getting on” in years, and also together. Our show translated that into eldercare, a women’s ward. It’s a subtle but profound translation. If you compare the shows they look like -- well sisters.
We just knew that we had to do this show. We wanted to create a place where our friends and family, our audience who we knew was aging and dealing with dementia and death in their loved ones, could come and laugh. Even if they were afraid to watch us, we knew once they did, they would want to be in our world with these characters. It’s scary but it’s life. And it can be funny and sad at the same time. It hits close to home and that’s a good thing.
Kouguell: This is the second HBO series you and Mark have collaborated on as executive producers and writers. Describe your work process and collaboration.
Scheffer: We are a married team so when we do a show we are with each other 24/7 365 days a year. Mark and I talk everything through but don't actually write together. We take turns on drafts, passing them back and forth for multiple revisions. Sometimes I'll write the first draft and he'll revise and sometimes he'll write the first draft. On set it's looser and we'll have to revise together but we prefer to actually write in our own space. The "fantasy" image of having desks facing each other and tossing lines back and forth doesn't work for us.
We definitely complement each other and make a good team. And we’ve survived thus far. The marriage seems to get stronger in the roil of collaboration. It does test our mettle, though.
In production we do everything -- from writing, to casting, to directing, to editing, to selling the show -- we’re there and uber-controlling. But we’re also extremely collaborative. We want to create a “safe set” and work environment where everyone wants to be. When people enjoy coming to work they do their best work. We make sure that condition is met. We treat everyone the same, including ourselves. Even though we get to be the auteurs, as it were, we treat our PAs the same way we treat our Dp, and we submit ourselves to the same conditions we expect from our team. We give ourselves over completely to a show. I credit Mark with expecting a standard of excellence. We depend on each other for different aspects of the work, but Mark’s ability to focus and dig is one of the things that make our collaborations successful. He’s my “closer.”
Kouguell: You describe the show as a ‘docu-comedy’ – please detail.
Scheffer: The British version was so raw and the camera just followed the actors and it was all done 360 degrees, with natural light and there was no worry about continuity and we loved that feel. So in principal, we tried to recreate that. We shot the same way in a real location. We used only two cameras and our Dp’s operated one and moved constantly around a 360 space with natural lighting. We felt that the show’s essence was in that “seed.” It felt like a documentary. We wanted the audience to feel like they were observers of life.
It turned out that we had to do a lot of “reverse engineering” to make our show. It became a different beast. Our show still is very gritty and it jump cuts -- but we learned we had to write in the jumps. We had to structure them. That was really hard to figure out because the British show was more “assembled.” We had to write in those moments when the scene was jumping and we began to have a principal that the jumps furthered the dramatic action of the scene. We did this in the editing room, too.
Our show had to become its own animal, and the “docu-comedy” style that we identified in the original became a different kind of “docu-comedy.” I think the two versions complement each other. In a way, we did with the British show what we do together as writers. We collaborated with it. We make a good team.
“Docu-comedy” is not The Office; it’s not an imposed, hand-held camera style. It’s an ethic. It’s more about trying to capture the truth of what it feels like to be in the midst of the insanity of crisis. What it feels like to be in that world that lives between life and death all the time. It’s about surrendering to it and reveling in the surreal quality of it all. Finding death as being a vital part of life. Not shying away from it. Living into it.
To learn more about Getting On go to: http://www.hbo.com/getting-on
Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, Susan Kouguell teaches screenwriting and film at Tufts University and presents international seminars. Author of Savvy Characters Sell Screenplays! and The Savvy Screenwriter, she is chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a consulting company founded in 1990 where she works with over 1,000 writers, filmmakers, and executives worldwide. www.su-city-pictures.com .
With their fingers on the pulse -- actually ten steps ahead of -- societal happenings and hot button topics, co-creators, executive producers, and writers on their Emmy and Golden Globe-winning HBO series Big Love, Will Scheffer and his partner Mark V. Olsen are fearless when tackling “difficult” subject matters in their television and film projects. With humor and pathos, Scheffer and Olsen continue to confront timely and challenging issues with their new series for HBO’s Getting On.
Will Scheffer is a playwright, writer/producer and filmmaker. His plays have been produced and developed across the country, including Playwright's Horizons, Naked Angels, The Public Theatre and Ensemble Studio Theater, where he’s had four plays in The Marathon. His first screenplay In the Gloaming, starring Glenn Close and directed by Christopher Reeve, was produced by HBO in 1997, and won many awards, including five Emmys. An attorney and member of the New York Bar, Mark V. Olsen has created, written, and produced several screenplays, teleplays, pilots and miniseries. For HBO, he wrote Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, Cabrina USA. In 2010, after being published in Best Plays of 1999, Olsen’s play Cornelia opened at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. Together, Scheffer and Olsen produced the independent feature based on Scheffer’s play by the same name, Easter in 2002, and that same year they created HBO’s acclaimed drama Big Love.
Kouguell: The HBO Web site synopsis describes Getting On: ‘The show follows the daily lives of overworked nurses and doctors as they struggle with the darkly comic realities of tending compassionately to their aging charges in a rundown, red-tape-filled hospital extended-care wing, blending outrageous humor with unexpected moments of tenderness.’ Anything else you would add to this description?
Scheffer: The show is about relationships -- as all our shows are -- the power struggles that come out of marriages between couples, or among small groups of individuals that work together out of choice or necessity. Getting On is about healthy and unhealthy codependence. It’s about love. It’s about how women in largely patriarchal systems learn to take their own power. It’s about class struggle and how it goes largely pushed into unconsciousness in our society and it’s about how the elderly, illness and the death experience is also compartmentalized in our society.
Getting On is largely about how we all deal with the process of aging and how we all care for the elderly. Like taxes and death, Mark and I think eldercare is becoming an unavoidable reality in our lives whether we like to deal with it or not. It’s becoming a shared fact of our existence, and Getting On tries to create a funny, safe place where an audience can find humor and compassion in that reality.
Kouguell: British television series like The Office have been successfully adapted for American TV. Getting On ran in Britain from 2009 – 2012. How did you come upon this show?
Scheffer: Mark and I had seen it in London while we were taking a vacation from our last season of Big Love and we were both dealing with caring for our aging mothers. We fell madly in love with the series and coincidentally had been working up a show of our own, set in the world of American eldercare. When we saw it we thought we should just adapt this series for American television. It’s an easier way to pitch an idea, and of course it gives us all this glorious material to work with.
Joanna Scanlon, Vicki Pepperdine, Jo Brand and Peter Capaldi, created an amazing show about the healthcare system in Great Britain and we felt it docked in perfectly with the kind of dark comedy we had in our heads about managed care in America and all the firsthand experiences we were going through with our moms.
Kouguell: What challenges and inspirations have you found while adapting this series?
Scheffer: The largest challenge, of course, is how to reimagine the characters and situations of the British version for an American audience and not to just “do a translation.” I think it was harder to translate a British show into American English than it might be to translate a Danish format such as The Killing or an Israeli format, such as In Treatment or Homeland.
You can be deceived into thinking you can just Americanize the dialogue and that is a huge trap when you love the original material. We had to fight that impulse. Also, we had to take the style of the British version, which is extremely “jump-cutty” and roughly assembled and improvised, and work backwards, almost to create our own “docu-comedy” style. We knew we weren’t going to do The Office but we didn’t know how challenging it would be to structure a script and a season the way we do and then make it look rougher. We love the result but it was extremely challenging for us as writers and for our entire creative team to discover our own style.
Our inspiration was largely drawn from our own ongoing experiences and then the actors we cast and the creative team we assembled. Adapting for these actors became a sublime treat and working with artists like Migel Arteta, Pam Martin, Tami Reiker, Jim Denault, Heather Persons, and also a lot of our Big Love team also was invaluable. And we had Jane Tranter, Julie Gardner, and Amy Hodge from BBC Worldwide as producing partners and they were incredible to work with. We got so much creative support from them.
This show (more than any other we’ve worked on) was a collaborative effort. Michael Lombardo, Casey Bloys and Francesca Orsi were very involved in our editorial process and I think this (sometimes uncomfortable) creative mix of smart people actually made the show different and better than what our vision alone foresaw. This was a rare instance of a lot of chefs in the kitchen actually producing a better stew.
Kouguell: How have you made it your own?
Scheffer: It was impossible not to make it our own. We lived a lot of what is seen on the show. Mark’s mom was in a small boarding care facility, which we were lucky to land her in when she developed dementia, and we had to bring her out to Pasadena to be near us. The caregivers and women there infuse our show. That was where we found tenderness and compassion. My mom was in the New York City healthcare system. She lived in a great assisted living apartment building, but when she got kicked out of hospitals and into Medicare “Rehabs” or what they call “skilled nursing facilities” the experience wasn’t so compassionate.
We used all of our personal knowledge of hospital life (which is considerable) and researched the hell of American geriatric care. We also imbued the show with our style and taste, which I would call simply: “Laughing and crying is good to do at the same time.” We cast actors who were vivid and real and very un-tv. They were all so talented and fiercely brave. We shot each episode in only three days. It’s unlike any TV show or film we’ve ever done.
Kouguell: Talk about your adaptation process.
Scheffer: We definitely started with all of the original material. We had no scripts though, so we had to first transcribe all the episodes from film (or video, as it were). We then picked and chose the material we knew was gold and worked endlessly on how we could compose a season structure -- knowing we had to compress their first two seasons of nine episodes into our first season of six.
We had some strong ideas of what we needed to do in order to achieve an American version as we had our ‘make someone happy campaign,’ which was based on our research of the Disneyfication of hospitals. We also knew we wanted to shake up the pilot and create a real dramatic reason of why there was a new head nurse (Patsy) coming into the ward and why Dr. Jenna James was stuck over here.
The British show has all these gold nuggets but since they worked in a more improvisational mode and we’re much more scripted, we had to take their nuggets and weave them into our structural considerations. Also, once we saw how the pilot worked with our cast, we identified a kind of idea of what each episode should have in it, to fulfill what we saw as a winning episode structure.
Our cast was so talented we knew we could always have a physical slapstick element and real emotional stakes side-by-side. We wanted each episode to have a laugh out loud scene that played against the dark comedy and realities of what happens in an extended care wing.
Also, the show was rebuilt in the editing room. We actually took more time to edit an episode than we did to shoot it. We had plenty of material but we essentially rewrote the show many, many times from before production, through rehearsals, and then in the editing room. When we completed the first episode I turned to Mark and said, “Oh my God, we actually made a black comedy.” Something which we knew was really hard to do and we made one that had a heart.
Kouguell: How do your characters in Getting On depart from the original British series?
Scheffer: The characters are very similar to the original ones except of course they are completely different. Jenna James is Doctor Moore in principal, but Laurie Metcalfe brings a fierceness and virtuosity to the role that makes the character’s inner life more roiling with insecurity. We began to see that in the world of the show, all the other characters saw Dr. James as imperious and incompetent at the same time, but failed to see what the audience saw -- a woman who is falling apart inside.
Nurse Dawn, as played by the multi-talented Alex Borstein, became more co-dependent, needing to always please Jenna, and also blatantly psychologically immature. Her core is the same as Joanna’s wonderful Den, a woman without an inherent self-esteem but I think our Dawn became more outrageously confused.
All our characters are less constrained and polite than the British cast. I would say that you see “America versus our British cousins” in the way all the characters become more visceral. Didi differs the most. In the British show she’s played by the amazing comedienne Jo Brand, as a retiree coming back into the workforce. Niecey, in what I think is a transformative role for her, is younger and of color. I think she retains what Kim (Jo Brand) is to the show, its tender heart, but somehow Niecey manages to bring her comedy skills yet delivers such a subtle earthiness to her performance; she is the beating heart at the center of the show.
It’s a hard question when I answer it, because in a way I see that the characters essentially are the same but completely different at the same time. It’s in the writing but it’s what these actors brought to all their roles. There was only one right actor for each of these roles and they all give award-worthy performances in my book. They just made the characters their own, which is what you want from an actor and we began to write to who we saw they were becoming in the parts. I think the old saying about casting being 99 percent of a successful production was what we knew we had to achieve for this show. It was really hard to cast, but we held out for the perfect actor for each role and they delivered.
Kouguell: What drew you to this material and why did you feel that it could be ‘translated’ for an American audience?
Scheffer: The British show is about the “National Health” and three women who are “getting on” in years, and also together. Our show translated that into eldercare, a women’s ward. It’s a subtle but profound translation. If you compare the shows they look like -- well sisters.
We just knew that we had to do this show. We wanted to create a place where our friends and family, our audience who we knew was aging and dealing with dementia and death in their loved ones, could come and laugh. Even if they were afraid to watch us, we knew once they did, they would want to be in our world with these characters. It’s scary but it’s life. And it can be funny and sad at the same time. It hits close to home and that’s a good thing.
Kouguell: This is the second HBO series you and Mark have collaborated on as executive producers and writers. Describe your work process and collaboration.
Scheffer: We are a married team so when we do a show we are with each other 24/7 365 days a year. Mark and I talk everything through but don't actually write together. We take turns on drafts, passing them back and forth for multiple revisions. Sometimes I'll write the first draft and he'll revise and sometimes he'll write the first draft. On set it's looser and we'll have to revise together but we prefer to actually write in our own space. The "fantasy" image of having desks facing each other and tossing lines back and forth doesn't work for us.
We definitely complement each other and make a good team. And we’ve survived thus far. The marriage seems to get stronger in the roil of collaboration. It does test our mettle, though.
In production we do everything -- from writing, to casting, to directing, to editing, to selling the show -- we’re there and uber-controlling. But we’re also extremely collaborative. We want to create a “safe set” and work environment where everyone wants to be. When people enjoy coming to work they do their best work. We make sure that condition is met. We treat everyone the same, including ourselves. Even though we get to be the auteurs, as it were, we treat our PAs the same way we treat our Dp, and we submit ourselves to the same conditions we expect from our team. We give ourselves over completely to a show. I credit Mark with expecting a standard of excellence. We depend on each other for different aspects of the work, but Mark’s ability to focus and dig is one of the things that make our collaborations successful. He’s my “closer.”
Kouguell: You describe the show as a ‘docu-comedy’ – please detail.
Scheffer: The British version was so raw and the camera just followed the actors and it was all done 360 degrees, with natural light and there was no worry about continuity and we loved that feel. So in principal, we tried to recreate that. We shot the same way in a real location. We used only two cameras and our Dp’s operated one and moved constantly around a 360 space with natural lighting. We felt that the show’s essence was in that “seed.” It felt like a documentary. We wanted the audience to feel like they were observers of life.
It turned out that we had to do a lot of “reverse engineering” to make our show. It became a different beast. Our show still is very gritty and it jump cuts -- but we learned we had to write in the jumps. We had to structure them. That was really hard to figure out because the British show was more “assembled.” We had to write in those moments when the scene was jumping and we began to have a principal that the jumps furthered the dramatic action of the scene. We did this in the editing room, too.
Our show had to become its own animal, and the “docu-comedy” style that we identified in the original became a different kind of “docu-comedy.” I think the two versions complement each other. In a way, we did with the British show what we do together as writers. We collaborated with it. We make a good team.
“Docu-comedy” is not The Office; it’s not an imposed, hand-held camera style. It’s an ethic. It’s more about trying to capture the truth of what it feels like to be in the midst of the insanity of crisis. What it feels like to be in that world that lives between life and death all the time. It’s about surrendering to it and reveling in the surreal quality of it all. Finding death as being a vital part of life. Not shying away from it. Living into it.
To learn more about Getting On go to: http://www.hbo.com/getting-on
Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, Susan Kouguell teaches screenwriting and film at Tufts University and presents international seminars. Author of Savvy Characters Sell Screenplays! and The Savvy Screenwriter, she is chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a consulting company founded in 1990 where she works with over 1,000 writers, filmmakers, and executives worldwide. www.su-city-pictures.com .
- 1/2/2014
- by Susan Kouguell
- Sydney's Buzz
Period drama "Maison Close" will be remade by HBO, it was announced today. Inspired by "Deadwood," HBO's western that was centered in a brothel as well, Variety reported today that Elizabeth Sarnoff will write the pilot and Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson's Leverage will produce the pilot. Sarnoff earned Emmy noms for "Deadwood' and "Lost," and wrote and executive produced episodes of "Alcatraz." The premise of "Maison Close" is centered on whores in a brothel set in Paris in 1871, as the women try to extricate themselves from the life. Producer Jacques Ouaniche will serve as co-executive producer and advisor on the remake for HBO, along with Francesca Orsi, VP drama at HBO. "HBO and Leverage have produced...
- 11/9/2012
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
Exclusive: Feature executive Michael Ellenberg has joined HBO as Svp, HBO Entertainment. He will run the pay cable network's drama department, reporting to HBO Entertainment president Sue Naegle and working closely with Gina Balian, also a newly minted Svp, HBO Entertainment. Balian, who has been at HBO for 10 years, is one of several drama executives who have recently been promoted, along with Francesca Orsi and David Levine, both of them upped to VP. The reorganization of HBO's drama department was precipitated by the recent departure of VP Jocelyn Diaz. But instead of going for a direct replacement, HBO brass opted to bring in somebody senior to lead the drama department. As for going with a film vs. network executive, I hear the decision stemmed from HBO's positioning as being in between TV and film and the need to have someone on board who knows well the players in...
- 8/11/2011
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
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