Boardwalk Empire has been optioned as the basis of a major HBO production to be co-executive produced by Stephen Levinson, Mark Wahlberg, Tim Van Patten, and Martin Scorsese, with a pilot teleplay by Sopranos writer/producer Terence Winter.
Dear Boardwalk Empire Enthusiast,
Last week was a big one for the upcoming Scorsese production for HBO. Three new cast members were announced, filming of the pilot began in New York City, and HBO officially picked up its option on the book by Nelson Johnson from Plexus Publishing, Inc.
Plexus cannot confirm that all of the following will make an appearance in the pilot episode, but this list reflects the current cast to the best of our knowledge, roughly in the order cast:
As has been previously reported, Martin Scorsese is directing the pilot and is also a co-executive producer along with Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, and Tim Van Patten.
OK, so that headline is just a tad bit misleading. Martin Scorsese isn’t actually going to shoot a Spaniard (this isn’t Mean Streets, The Departed or Gangs of New York, y’all). But the famed, Oscar-winning auteur will direct relatively unknown Spanish actress Paz de la Huerta in the pilot for a new HBO drama called Boardwalk Empire—a gritty and realistic snapshot of Atlantic City during the prohibition era, written by Terence Winter (The Sopranos).
Warning: some of this is going to get personal. (Since I can’t win an Emmy or an Oscar I figure this blog post is my best chance to get it out of my system.)
A lot of people may not have even realized it given all the recent hoopla over Boardwalk Empire, but up until now HBO has merely had an option on the Plexus book by Judge Nelson Johnson. All that changed this morning: HBO has picked up the option. (Yeah, they had to–they’re actually shooting the beast!)
This is a great feeling–especially considering the book had its start as an unsolicited manuscript from an unpublished author I’d never heard of, sitting in a pile of similar manuscripts on my cluttered desk some 8 years ago. And here I am in a small regional publishing house in rural southern NJ +15 years after my career in trade publishing in NYC seemed to be winding down–with the biggest deal of my career happening now.
Wow.
So, right now I’m thinking of my dad, James A. Bryans–an amazing book publisher who had many significant achievements in his career (including discovering Jim Thompson, bringing Shakespearian themes into pulp fiction, acquiring To Kill a Mockingbird for Popular Library, publishing many of the first and most popular tv tie-in books, beating much bigger publishers to get the Warren Report out, creating the longest-running series of American historical novels ever published, editing Coal Miner’s Daughter and Jack Hemingway’s memoirs–just to name some).
“Big Jim” was not only my dad, he was my best friend and my mentor in the publishing business, and though I lost him ten years ago I feel him smiling down on me. If he were in the room he’d say something like, “Way to go, kid–you’ve finally slain that lion!”
Pardon the personal and sentimental nature of this post–I’m letting it happen just this once, and hope you’ll understand. Today is a BIG day for me, for His Honor Nelson Johnson (congrats, Nelson–you deserve it), for Brian Lipson (thanks, Brian), and for my wonderful friends and colleagues at Plexus: Tom Sr, Heide, Amy, Kara, Dana, Lisa, Tom Jr, Rob, Linda, Pat P, and the rest of this talented team–congrats and thanks for helping to make Boardwalk Empire a success!
And thanks to my mom down in Florida who never asked or expected her kids to act like other people’s kids. I love you, mom. Love you, Sarah, and love you, Jenny.
To close, I’m climbing up on my desk and yelling:
Go, Marty, Mark (and thank you, Mark!), Stephen, Terence, Steve Buscemi, and the whole talented cast and crew!
Go, Boardwalk Empire!!!
(This is going to be fun.)
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – “The Wire” alum Michael Kenneth Williams, Dabney Coleman and Paz de la Huerta have joined the cast of HBO’s Martin Scorsese-directed drama pilot “Boardwalk Empire.”
According to various reports, including this one on the Broadcasting & Cable Web site, filming for the pilot of Boardwalk Empire is set to begin this week (the week of June 8th) in Brooklyn. We’ll keep you posted on the latest news.
We had a terrific booksigning for Boardwalk Empire with the Hon. Nelson Johnson this past Saturday at Book Expo America (BEA) in New York City. Over 100 booksellers, librarians, reviewers, and enthusiasts lined up to meet the judge and have him sign an advance review copy of the September edition. Sure, a bunch of these are destined for eBay, but I was impressed by the sincere interest so many people expressed in the book.
We also took the opportunity to introduce Judge Johnson to his publicist and to the staff at our distributor, IPG. We have a terrific team assembled to launch the book this fall and enthusiasm is running high. I expect to report some exciting news in about a week–watch this space!
“So he’s supposed to be some kind of a movie star?” a skinny girl with braids asked her friend as they watched Michael Pitt walk out the door of the Tilden Family Center in Highland Park, Brooklyn, on a recent Friday.
