Please wait...
Please wait...

Starz lines up New Orleans drama

US cable broadcaster Starz is linking up with Colin Callender and Playground Entertainment to develop a drama set in New Orleans during the early 20th century.

Storyville will be written and directed by George C Wolfe (Nights in Rodanthe, Lackawanna Blues, Lucky Guy), with Callender’s Playground Entertainment producing the series, led by Scott Huff, VP of development and production.

The show, based on an idea by Wolfe, will explore how the city developed as prostitution was decriminalised and a hedonistic culture helped to fuel the birth of jazz.

Playground previously worked with Starz on eight-part child abduction thriller The Missing, which is also airing on the BBC and was produced with New Pictures and All3Media’s Company Pictures.

Former HBO Films president Callender founded Playground in 2012 to focus on high-end drama for the US and UK, and is currently in post-production with Company Pictures on six-part miniseries Wolf Hall for the BBC and Masterpiece.

The firm has been busy over recent months hiring Channel 4’s commissioning editor for drama, Sophie Gardiner, for its new UK office and appointing All3Media International MD Louise Pedersen in October to head the London-based division.

The appointments are part of plans to help broaden the prodco’s slate and expand its reach into the UK writing community.

RELATED ARTICLES

Please wait...