New Show From Entourage Creator

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/magazine/10wwln-Q4-t.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

As the creator of the hit show “Entourage,” which follows four buddies from Queens on their adventures in Hollywood, you’ve become a leading chronicler of the American dream at its most nakedly materialistic. So perhaps it’s not surprising that you’re planning a new HBO series devoted to a group of hedge-fund guys in New York. Why do you find the subject of money so interesting? Sadly, right now, that’s the world people are aspiring to. You have Harvard-educated medical doctors who would rather work at an investment bank than try to cure cancer, and that’s the wish-fulfillment lifestyle that I play into.

The desire to make money is nothing new. No, but now people are looking for the home runs constantly. That’s the difference. People are seeing shortcuts and easy routes.

“Entourage” is itself a study in “shortcut culture,” to coin a phrase. The male characters don’t work very hard, except at playing video games and having casual sex and wanting to be famous. Is the show intended as a sendup of Hollywood excess? No. In fact when we first started, HBO would say satire, and I said this is not satire. This is scripted reality. I consider the show 100 percent realistic. I have friends who wake up in the morning and want a Bentley and they go get it. I find it funny.

You seem similarly amused by the characters on “Entourage,” despite their questionable values. I never looked at this show as being about values, as you say, or guys with bad values. I look at them as good guys who have each other’s back and just want to take care of each other. They watch out for each other like family.

So what? Nearly all television comedies are about families, or at least surrogate families of friends or workmates, as in “Seinfeld” or “Cheers” or “The Office.” That’s true, but I know the way the boys talk on “Entourage” would have George Costanza’s father giving them a nice, swift kick in the pants. “Entourage” is how I perceive friendship and how I experienced it growing up. My friends and I just walked around the neighborhood all day and talked and laughed.

I assume your milieu was less flashy than the one in “Entourage.” My father is an accountant. Growing up on Long Island, I’d have one basketball for seven years. There was no grip left on this basketball. I don’t want to sound like I had a cheap father. He was not cheap, but he was very against waste.

What advantages did that give you? None.

Great. Tell that to your analyst. Oh, yeah. I’ve got therapy twice a week. I’m a mess.

At least you’re a productive mess. At 39, you’ve written and directed two feature films, including “Phat Beach,” a critical flop about two pals who make easy money by selling sunglasses on the beach. I went from failed movies to successful TV, but I am going to get back to failed movies someday.

Good luck with that. In the meantime, does success on HBO pay more or less than other networks? I think the deal I have is on par with the good show-runners in town. I’m very well compensated. I have a four-year contract. I’ll be starting a new one on Aug. 1.

How much do you earn? I’m not going to tell you.

About $3 million a year? Yeah, you can put it in that neighborhood.

What do you do with all that dough? I don’t really spend a lot of money. I’m not a flashy guy. I drive a Lexus hybrid. I don’t have a lot of things that I really care about besides my kids.

Kids can be costly to raise, especially once they discover batteries. Lucas is 5 and Maya is 3, so a firetruck and a doll keep them happy for a couple of weeks.

How would you feel if your kids turned out like the guys on “Entourage”? I’d kill myself.

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'Entourage' Producers Hire 'Ocean's 13' Writers for HBO Hedge Fund Series
By Melissa Grego

The screenwriting team behind "Ocean's 13" have signed on to pen a new HBO series that the producers of "Entourage" are developing about a group of hedge fund managers.

"Entourage" creator-executive producer Doug Ellin revealed details of the project to TelevisionWeek during the exclusive weekly Backlot Talk podcast.

Writing partners Brian Koppelman and David Levien, who also wrote "Rounders," will write and create the New York-based show, Mr. Ellin said.

The ideal goal is to shoot something "before the winter is out" and premiere the series along with the fifth season of "Entourage" next summer, Mr. Ellin said, but "nothing is set in stone."

The network is committed to a pilot script for the project at this point, according to an HBO spokesman.

Mr. Ellin said he is hoping Mr. Koppelman and Mr. Levien will write fast, but that the duo could be delayed by other projects on their docket, including the feature script "Frankie Machine," expected to be directed by Martin Scorsese with Robert DeNiro toplining.

With the recent conclusion of "The Sopranos," viewer and industry interest in HBO's new series pipeline has escalated. "Entourage" is the most viewed series currently airing on the network.

Mr. Ellin and fellow "Entourage" executive producers Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson made a deal last year to develop the hedge fund show. The trio is slated to executive produce it.

Mr. Ellin told TVWeek that the massive amounts of money hedge fund managers make and the life they tend to lead allured him.

"The amount of wealth being created so fast we think is an interesting world," Mr. Ellin said. In addition, the Long Island, N.Y. native said he wanted to do a show in New York.


http://tvweek.com/news/2007/06/entourage_producers_hire_ocean.php