[Sven2]

David Milch Extends Overall Deal With HBO

By NELLIE ANDREEVA
Wednesday April 2, 2014 @ 10:23am PDT

EXCLUSIVE: There are few relationships between a network and creator that have been as enduring as the one between David Milch and HBO. Now it has been extended with a new overall deal, which will keep Milch exclusive to HBO in television for two more years, bringing his tenure at the pay cable network to 14 years. Milch has been at HBO since 2002, when he embarked on developing his first project there, cult drama Deadwood, and under an overall deal since 2005. The relationship has yielded five pilots, three of which — Deadwood, John From Cincinnati and Luck – went to series. Milch's most recent project at HBO was drama pilot The Money, about hbo45__130924185923-275x112wealth and corruption among the super elite, which focused on an American mogul and patriarch (Brendan Gleeson) who wields power and influence to expand his media empire and control his family. HBO opted not to go forward with the pilot, co-starring Nathan Lane and featuring Ray Liotta and John Carroll Lynch, but the network remains very much in the David Milch business. He has other projects in the works, including a feature-length adaptation of a William Faulkner novel.

from:
http://www.deadline.com/2014/04/david-milch-extends-overall-deal-with-hbo/

[SaveJFC Admin]

Great news that HBO is not abandoning Milch!  And great new topic.  Thank you for keeping us up-to-date on all things Milch!

[sven]

David Milch Talks New Boss Tweed Show

By Vulture Editors

At this weekend's inaugural Vulture Festival, David Milch sat in conversation with our TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz. Over the 90-minute discussion, Milch talked about his Emmy-winning work on Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue as well as his years as showrunner on HBO's Deadwood. Milch also discussed at length, for the first time, a new dramatic work he is writing for HBO — "I'm working on a bunch of shows ... But this one that I've brought a sample of is about Boss Tweed, who was a political figure in the late 19th century, ran Tammany Hall here in New York City, and was a thief of prodigious dimension. He was also very fat." Milch then read a chunk of script, starting with a very Milchian moment of Tweed in jail, writing a letter:

    "I'm an old man, broken in health and cast down in spirit. As to the charges standing against me, through unpublished statements, I've received some assurance that the vindication of principle and purifying of the public service are purposes you would have me serve. Recognizing further resistance as a futility, offering unqualified surrender and supplicating mercy, I herewith submit my testimony."

from:
http://www.vulture.com/2014/05/vulture-festival-david-milch-talks-new-show.html

[sven]

David Milch eyes 19th-century New York politics for new series

by Alexandra Richmond on May 13, 2014 at 10:45 am

Here's a reason to go to an arts festival: To hear David Milch read from his new script about Boss Tweed, the "boss" of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that helped "fix" things for certain people in city and state politics in the 19th century.

David Milch, creator of Deadwood and one of the smartest and most creative people creating television today or ever, blew people's minds at Vulture Fest when he brought out pages to read, during an on-stage interview with Matt Zoller Seitz. He called Tweed "a thief of prodigious dimension. He was also very fat."

An excerpt:

    Milch then read a chunk of script, starting with a very Milchian moment of Tweed in jail, writing a letter:

    "I'm an old man, broken in health and cast down in spirit. As to the charges standing against me, through unpublished statements, I've received some assurance that the vindication of principle and purifying of the public service are purposes you would have me serve. Recognizing further resistance as a futility, offering unqualified surrender and supplicating mercy, I herewith submit my testimony.

I am herewith on the edge of my seat.

Milch rarely gives interviews, but is known for his no-bullshit frankness. Back in 2007 at the New Yorker fest, Vulture wondered if Milch was the best or worst dinner party guest ever  as he pointed out "the fallacy of the dichotomy between cable and network (basically, everyone's selling something: on network, it's soap in the commercials, on HBO, it's upper-middle class values, "the same bullshit The New Yorker's selling"); the reason Jews are overrepresented in Hollywood (he asked the panel who there was Jewish; four out of five — including Milch — raised their hands, with Moore the odd man out) and how the "seeming doubleness" of Jewish life makes Jews perfect for the entertainment biz; the inadequacies of HBO in general, including a classic jerk-off hand motion — which is weird, since the channel aired (and, yes, killed) Deadwood and the indecipherable John From Cincinnati; and the David Milch mystique. "When they buy me, they know what they're buying," he said. "'Oh, David Milch, he's nuts.' And that's what I'm selling." He also slagged the clip they'd shown from Weeds, basically dismissed House, and slammed the petit bourgeois sensibilities of, yes, The New Yorker."

Milch said all that while at the New Yorker Fest. Which is the only reason to go to a fest: to hear your hero tear the world apart.

from:
http://www.technologytell.com/entertainment/43663/david-milch-eyes-19th-century-new-york-politics-new-series/

[Sven2]

Vulture Festival Video: Writer David Milch Talks Deadwood, Boss Tweed


Our inaugural Vulture Festival kicked off with an interview that contained more than a few surprises. Our TV critic, Matt Zoller Seitz, interviewed one of modern television's most towering talents: David Milch. Over the course of a literate and engaging conversation, Milch revealed behind-the-scenes secrets about his most famous project, Deadwood, discussed his days as a fraternity brother to George W. Bush, and capped it all off with an exclusive reading of script pages from his as-yet-unproduced series about legendarily corrupt NYC mayor Boss Tweed.

Watch the video in the link below

from:
http://www.vulture.com/2014/05/david-milch-boss-tweed-deadwood-seitz-vulture-festival-video.html

[Sven2]

THAT IS NOT ABOUT HBO, BUT THE FORMER MILITARY CHANEL, NOW 'AMERICAN HEROES'. IF YOU HAVE IT IN YOUR CABLE LINEUP,  READ THE NEWS BELOW.
American Heroes Channel Announces Six-Part Docudrama Series 'Gunslingers' (Exclusive)

Kurt Russell and "Deadwood" creator David Milch provide commentary on the Old West-centric series, premiering July 20.

6/17/2014 by Ryan Gajewski

American Heroes Channel is saddling up for the new six-part docudrama series Gunslingers, providing the real story of the Old West's most infamous icons.

Following the success of such recent TV oaters as History's 2012 Hatfields & McCoys miniseries, Gunslingers incorporates reenactments with factual commentary. Each episode will highlight a different legendary figure, including Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid, Jesse James and Wild Bill Hickok.

The premiere episode, airing Sunday, July 20, is entitled "Wyatt Earp: The Tombstone Vendetta." The episode features commentary from actor Kurt Russell, who played Earp in the 1993 film Tombstone. Subsequent episodes include commentary from Deadwood creator David Milch and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford author Ron Hansen.

"Gunslingers captures all the edge-of-your-seat drama of a classic Hollywood Western, but layers in all of the true facts from these legends that echo throughout history," said Kevin Bennett, general manager of American Heroes Channel.

Among the actors who will reenact scenes include All My Children veteran Walt Willey, who portrays Wild Bill. The series is executive produced by Chris Cassel.

"American Heroes Channel is proud to bring viewers a very different style of documentary series—told from the unique P.O.V. of the icons themselves—to bring new life to the timeless frontier sagas that continue to captivate audiences," Bennett added.

Gunslingers premieres Sunday, July 20 at 10 p.m.

FROM:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gunslingers-american-heroes-channel-announces-712626

[Sven2]

 Vulture TV Awards: The Year's Best Villain Is Breaking Bad's Walter White

    By David Milch




You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in all of television's kingdoms more heinous than Joffrey Baratheon. Or more devilish than Frank Underwood. Or more politely chilling than the eponymous Hannibal. For these characters, villainy is as much a vocation as avocation: Joffrey is a teenage tyrant; Frank is a scheming politician; and Dr. Lecter a sinister shrink. When villainy is a job requirement, why not delight in it?

But there is nothing inherently villainous about your mild-mannered chemistry teacher — the one who took a medical leave when he developed lung cancer. He's so nice, after all, and his family is so sweet. He's just like you and me, and we're not so bad. Are we? Walter White's transformation into the monster Heisenberg is compelling because he does bad things for good reasons. We might even do the same, if pushed far enough. We see a little of ourselves in him, and that's precisely why we should fear him most.

In the final season of Breaking Bad, Walter has completed that transformation and quit the business of blue meth. He's already shot, stabbed, poisoned, and bombed anyone who threatened his burgeoning empire. He's made more money than his family could ever need.

But with Hank and Jesse finally at odds with him, he still has things left to do. Though he doesn't wear the porkpie hat, he uses the different facets of his persona to manipulate those closest to him. He's Mr. White, the genteel teacher, when he has to convince Jesse to change his identity for everyone's protection. He's the helpless cancer victim and loving patriarch when Hank finally realizes the truth about his brother-in-law. His time is running out, Walter promises, and a pointless prosecution for a dying man will only harm his family. When those approaches fail, Walt is the brutal drug lord who plots to kill Jesse, implicates Hank in his own crimes, and leaves his wife bloodied and sobbing in front of their home after kidnapping their infant daughter. He turns his family against itself. In doing so, he reshapes the world around him so that everyone breaks bad.

Marie, never the bastion of sanity, Googles untraceable poisons when Walt doesn't follow her recommendation of suicide. Skyler eschews her own husband's moral standards and tries to convince Walt to finally murder Jesse. Even Walter's other protégé, Todd, is merely an extension of him. He adopted the brutality of his Uncle Jack and the Opie attitude of "Mr. White." When Todd and the Aryans leave Hank in a desert grave, torture Jesse, and murder Andrea, who is only guilty of unwittingly playing the pawn, it's not in spite of Walter, but because of him.

And then, in the wake of fleeing Albuquerque, Walter refuses the opportunity to save Skyler by surrendering to the police, claiming that he wants to ensure his family receives the remainder of his money. In reality, he can't accept that his empire has perished.

When Walter finally admits that he did it all — the meth, the money, the murders — because he liked it, because it made him feel alive, that vanity motivated him more than charity, it reflects how our own ostensible altruism is often just the lie we tell ourselves to excuse our dirtiest deeds.

He does attempt redemption. He comes out of hiding to ensure Skyler isn't punished for his crimes. He kills the Aryans and rescues Jesse. He succeeds at providing Walt Jr. with roughly $9 million. But he achieves these small acts of contrition through violence, or at least the promise of it. He's already doomed, and he shows how far each of us can fall.

Was Walter White the best villain on television this year? You're goddamn right.


from:
http://www.vulture.com/2014/06/vulture-tv-awards-david-milch-best-villain-walter-white.html

[Sven2]

David Milch Talks Pimping, His Latest Project

8:00 AM PST 10/09/2014 by Austin Siegemund-Broka

David Milch has thrown some typewriters out the window in his writing career.

"The guys at St. Elsewhere used to take half an hour off between 2:30 and 3. They were on the floor below us [the Hill Street Blues writers at NBC]," he told Carlton Cuse, showrunner of A&E's Bates Motel and FX's The Strain, in conversation at The Hollywood Reporter's Power Showrunners luncheon on Wednesday. "They'd see if a typewriter had come down, and then they'd go back to work."

It's not the only quirk of his writing process, the prolific writer and creator told showrunners in attendance, including Matthew Weiner (AMC's Mad Men), Howard Gordon (Showtime's Homeland, FX's Tyrant), Jason Katims (NBC's Parenthood and About A Boy) and Noah Hawley (FX's Fargo). He produces material dictating — "It allows you to stay in the moment a little bit more" — while lying down. As for actually typing? "No, I've never done that," he said.


But it's a well-functioning method for Milch. In the 30-plus years since he began penning scripts for Hill Street Blues, his career credits include co-creating ABC's NYPD Blue and creating HBO's Deadwood, and he's won four Emmys. Here are the highlights of his conversation with Cuse at THR's luncheon:

Why he writes for television: Milch studied literature at Yale under poet, novelist and critic Robert Penn Warren. Then he went to law school, from which he was expelled. "I was falsely accused of shooting the lights out of a police car. I don't know how they got the idea it was I and not someone else," he told Cuse. "That was it for my law career, and then I went to the Writers' Workshop in Iowa."

Why not write poetry or fiction afterward? "You want to be heard, and it was my sense that [television] was a medium, in which one could be heard," he said. "I also need to be working hard all the time." He argued he wasn't suited for the experience of a feature writer, which includes "interludes in which you're not occupied." Said Milch: "I tend to wind up in jail."

Where Deadwood started: "Deadwood was a show set in Rome at the time of St. Paul. I worked on it for about eight months, and then it turned out they were doing a show about Rome [HBO's Rome]. For me, what engaged my imagination was the idea of an organizing principle that shaped an entire society. In the case of Rome in the time of St. Paul, it was the idea of the cross. It was revolutionizing the way people lived, and when it turned out there was a show about Rome, I decided to use gold as the organizing principle instead of the cross and set it on the frontier. It wasn't that much of a—well, I guess on one level it was a pretty big change," he said.

He later elaborated, "I think that to a large extent, what we're looking for as we live is something that will suppress our ego like that, that will make us feel part of something larger than ourselves."

"The best pimp in the world is the one that doesn't need the pussy": Cuse credited the line to Milch, then asked him to elaborate. "It's like that ego suppression thing. If you need the pussy, you're a trick. If you don't, you could be a cab driver, but you could also be a pimp," Milch said, adding, "Forgive my language."

On visiting sets: "I think it's disrespectful to go onto a set without some clear idea of what your intentions are, because then you're hanging the director out to dry. My process is very disempowering to the director anyway, so it's essential that you be respectful. Once we've sort of found the scene, I have to get out of there, because you don't want to split the actor's idea of who's in charge."

His next script: Cuse said he'd just read Milch's latest pilot, which the writer finished just days ago. It's entitled Big City, and it centers on William "Boss" Tweed, the head of the Tammany Hall political machine that controlled 19th-century New York City politics. The pilot is populated with historical figures, including tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt and women's rights reformer Susan B. Anthony, Cuse said. "I read the script thinking, 'Oh my god, this show is absolutely the next great thing from you'," he added.


Said Milch: "I'm no rose. I have been around a while, and you never know when something is going to be the last thing you do. You want to harbor your resources and try not to make a mistake." So why Tweed? "This guy, in addition to being a crook, had the gift of society. There was nobody, even the people he put in jail, who didn't have great affection for William Tweed."

The book he reads over and over: Milch said he rereads the poetry and literary criticism of his late mentor Warren. Then he recited a poem of Warren's, "Moral Assessment," from memory, to applause from the crowd in the room.

from:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/thrs-power-showrunners-2014-luncheon-739471?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thr%2Fnews+%28The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Top+Stories%29

[Sven2]

David Milch Sets Sale From Martha's Vineyard

by Mark David
December 2, 2014

President Obama vacations there, while Carly Simon presides over a sprawling compound and Meg Ryan owns a rustically luxurious barn-like home. Yes, children, it's blissfully removed and drop-dead gorgeous Martha's Vineyard. Other high-profile homeowners on the historic island, just off the southern coast of Cape Cod, include (but are not limited to) Spike Lee, David Letterman, Ted Danson and longtime television writer and producer David Milch, who has his compound near the island's port community of Vineyard Haven up for grabs on the open market with an asking price of $8,950,000.

The four-time Emmy-winning police-procedural patriarch — among other professional achievements, he wrote for "Hill Street Blues" before he created, with Steven Bochco, the much-decorated and long-running "NYPD Blue" — stands to double his dough on the sale of the estate. Property records show Milch and his wife, Rita, purchased the almost painfully picturesque, 22-acre waterside spread in early 1996 for $4 million.

A wheel-rutted dirt drive passes a tree-ringed tennis court as it winds deep into the densely treed multi-residence property that contains, per listing details, a total of eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. Hand-stacked stone walls and mature perennial gardens divide the circular drive and parking area from the shingled, Cape Cod-style main house that was originally built in 1880, and reworked in the 1970s to include an architecturally decadent, double-height glass wall in the main living area with long, northwestern sunset views.

In addition to the rambling and roughly 5,500-square foot main house, the grounds include a secluded writer's studio, a spacious, separate and self-contained guesthouse charmingly dubbed the Barn, and a two-story beach cottage set on the edge of the shallow pond that separates the bulk of the compound from the property's 300 feet of pristine sandy shore.

The listing is represented by Judy Federowicz of Coldwell Banker Landmarks Real Estate who told this property gossip that with their children grown they don't use the compound as much as in the past and it's time to pass the compound to another family.

from:
http://variety.com/2014/dirt/real-estate/david-milch-sets-sale-from-marthas-vineyard-1201365519/

[Sven2]

Deadwood Creator David Milch Has Lost $100 Million to a Gambling Addiction

By Jackson McHenry

David Milch, the man behind groundbreaking television series like Deadwood and NYPD Blue, earned $100 million across his decades-long career in Hollywood, but, according to The Hollywood Reporter, nearly all of it has been consumed by bets at the racetrack. According to one lawsuit, Milch lost $25 million between 2000 and 2011 due to gambling alone. The lawsuit also reveals that he is now $17 million in debt. "He's in debt to the IRS," a friend said. "He's doing what he can, but it's hard for him and everyone close to him." Milch is currently on a $40 a week allowance from his wife, Rita.

Milch, who started off as a writer for Hill Street Blues before creating the boundary-pushing NYPD Blue and, later, the critically beloved Deadwood, has not worked on a show since 2012, when the horse-racing drama Luck was canceled (his other effort, the surfer mystery John From Cincinnati, was canceled after its first ten episodes in 2007). Milch currently maintains an exclusive deal with HBO that is in talks to be renewed. He is working on an adaptation of Peter Matthiessen's novel Shadow Country, which is set to star Jeff Bridges, and developing a movie version of Deadwood. Rita Milch has filed a legal complaint against their business managers for not informing her of the full extent of her husband's losses. She is seeking $25 million in damages.

from:
http://www.vulture.com/2016/02/david-milch-lost-100-million-to-gambling.html

More detailed article on the same subject from Hollywood Reporter:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/david-milch-made-100m-gambled-866184

[Sven2]

Bart & Fleming: TMZ's Harvey Levin Faces New Yorker Scrutiny; Did David Milch Deserve THR Expose?
by Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr.

February 22, 2016 1:00pm

BART: It's Oscar time in LA, which translates into hell week for publicists but a moment of delicious opportunity for bartenders, hospital orderlies, hotel maids and all the other so-called "sources" who sell scandalous news items to the ubiquitous TMZ. The stars will be drinking and partying this week, and Harvey Levin, who presides over the gossip mayhem, will decide which scoops to air and how much to pay. Levin's empire daily reminds celebrities, and the rest of us, how appallingly our privacy has been invaded. The battle over Apple's privacy rules has exponentially expanded this debate to another level. But I also thank The New Yorker this week for reminding us how important, and intimidating, Levin's empire has become. The major media outlets publicly condemn Levin's practice of paying as much as six figures to his sleazy sources, but, as the magazine points out, he's landed stories like Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic rants, Ray Rice's elevator athletics, Donald Sterling's negotiations with girlfriends and other cultural milestones. And the sources have been amply rewarded. Is all this disgusting? Yes, but, as Levin proclaims, "most journalism about stars is built on a lie." And he's right. And Levin should be applauded for breaking through the walls that publicists have built around their celebrity clients.

FLEMING: I have grudging admiration for Levin, who has melded dogged journalism with under the table payments and turned it into a very profitable business model. Peter, we first met over the phone when you were a producer and I worked on a gossip column for New York Newsday and I believe my greatest contribution came when a friend told me that John McEnroe and Tatum O'Neal were either shopping for an engagement ring or getting a marriage license, I forget which. You've got to be a certain type of person to make a living at the expense of others. I didn't have that hardness in me, even then, and was never comfortable with it. But if you're going to do that for a living, you might as well be all in. The unapologetic Levin is certainly that. Along the way, his TMZ has exposed: the appalling racist rant of Donald Sterling that forced him to sell the Los Angeles Clippers because his mostly black players wouldn't play for him; that singer Chris Brown and football star Ray Rice used women as punching bags; that Mel Gibson's first instinct after being pulled over for drunk driving was to launch a verbal tirade against Jews. Out of the tabloids also came the revelation that married QB Brett Favre didn't live up to his carefully cultivated Norman Rockwell image by texting pictures of his naughty bit to a woman he fancied, and Bill Cosby's long string of accusations that he drugged and then had his way with dozens of women. None of this will ever be confused with the work that brought the Boston Globe reporting team a Pulitzer and led to the Best Picture candidate Spotlight, but there is a parallel here about exposing hard truths and pulling back the curtain on the worst behavior of people in prominence.

BART: But it's a disgusting process, isn't it? And who benefits and who loses? Was it really worth $250,000 to buy surveillance footage of Beyonce's sister, Solange, attacking Jay Z in a New York hotel elevator? That's what Page Six claims, anyway, and Levin never confirms or denies. He just enjoys — and plays God during the process. Levin decides which stars to exploit and which to protect. Some of the vids on Justin Bieber have never been aired. Like the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover of old, Levin believes his store house of undisclosed material provides great negotiating power for future stories.

FLEMING: Nicholas Schmidle's well researched New Yorker article Digital Dirt reported that Levin gave Bieber a pass for using the "N" word in a parody of a song because the kid was 16, and Levin gave him a break and didn't destroy his career for doing something stupid at that prime age of stupidity. Every journalist and publication makes judgment calls about which fights to pick, and any journalist who says they haven't benefited some way by pulling a punch isn't being honest. Horse trading is part of the game. As for Solange walloping her brother-in-law Jay Z, it got picked up, second hand, by every "legitimate" media outlet in the world, as has the battered face of Rihanna at the hands of Chris Brown, and the Ray Rice video, and any number of videos and audiotapes that somehow fell into the hands of TMZ, which has been such a conduit for scandalous stuff. I've been kind of riveted to the FX series The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story; it's remarkable how often the Kardashian children have shown up in the first few episodes. O.J. pal Robert Kardashian is the excuse, but I think the message is that the Simpson trial underscored the public's insatiable desire for celebrity scandal, and led directly to the rise of reality series, TMZ and the Kardashians.

BART: If Harvey Levin can pull back the layers of secrecy surrounding film and music celebrities, could he do the same for politicians? This may seem like a squalid question, but how much do we really know, for example, about Donald Trump? And could Harvey Levin help? TMZ tried to open a Washington outlet but then changed its mind. My question about Trump may seem frivolous, but consider the Trump empire: Forbes says he's worth $4.3 billion but, as The Economist points out, Trump doesn't run a publicly listed company or even a holding company grouping his assets, so little hard data is available. His core of executives consists of family members. He has not made his taxes public. While he likes to boast about his great career in the gaming industry, his holdings were dwarfed by Sheldon Adelson's (who's worth $26 billion) and Trump had to dump his Atlantic City losers. Trump is known for yelling and screaming at executives and rivals but no one seems willing to talk. Where is Harvey Levin and his army of "paid" sources? What could they tell us about the inner workings of the Trump empire?

FLEMING: Two grafs ago, you seemed to be looking down your nose on Levin, and now you want to turn him loose in D.C. like some truth crusader? I'm not sure pols have the currency to make such exposure financially worthwhile. The exception is if you've got a sex scandal on the order of Monica Lewinsky. Drudge Report is now a conservative aggregation empire, but don't forget Matt Drudge's site came to prominence with revelations about Lewinsky's semen-stained dress. It seemed tawdry, but it factored into impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton after he initially lied about the encounter.

BART: On another level, the mandate for secrecy in Washington was pointed up last week by the death of Antonin Scalia, whose history of bad health had been completely covered up for years. Even reports of Justice Scalia's death were so muddy that The New York Times sat on it for almost an hour after it was posted by other media. Had TMZ penetrated Washington, Justice Scalia's myriad secret trips to the hospital would have been disclosed by a receptionist or ambulance driver. OK, I'm not completely serious here, but it seems to me that Washington and Hollywood remain two totally contrasting worlds. We know more than we should about Hollywood, not enough about Washington.

FLEMING: I've got nothing for you on that last point. I did find it remarkable how Levin is minting money tapping the ferocious appetite for unvarnished celebrity revelations not only with a successful website and daily syndicated TV show (which I find un-watchable as kids stalk celebrities for airport sound bites) and a bus tour for tourists run by his partner, which actually gets celebrities to play ball and be viewed by gawking fans like zoo animals on a theme park safari tour. That is a better version of those maps to the star homes that have always been sold to tourists, and TMZ is a digital version of the old National Enquirer, with its shocking covers like the hospital shot of a near death Steve McQueen. You know how it's said that every great fortune probably began with a great crime? Well, it seems these days like tomorrow's general media celebrity tale began with yesterday's salacious gossip item on TMZ or one of these other sites. If so-called legitimate news media were really that horrified by what TMZ was doing, it ought not to pick up second hand all the scoops being generated. Frowning on Levin while taking the safe route by recycling footage attributed to TMZ so you don't have to pay to get the information or face the wrath of celebrity lawyers, well, that is hypocritical. And when they break a story about the tragic deaths of Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston, it's ghoulish, but every publication follows their lead. What does it say when a prestige magazine like The New Yorker devotes page after page to Levin's empire?

Peter, we just watched Deadpool break every superhero movie rule and gross half a billion dollars in two weeks. The public craves disruption. I'm not going to sit here and judge Levin and his TMZ army or any muckraker. One of my favorite magazines ever was the old Spy, which cleverly punctured the balloon of entitlement, and I laughed hard when the New York Post covered disgraced Subway pitchman Jared Fogle's prison sentence on child pornography with a front cover that suggested he "Enjoy a Foot Long In Jail." Many who get thumped deserve it, and the only problem I have is when paparazzi hound the children of stars. I recall an actor with kids once describing his daily reality of walking his kids into their school. Hulking, intimidating thugs with cameras, yelling at children in hopes they will look up and make a more salable picture subject. Those paparazzi, the actor said, form a semi-circle around their subjects so the backdrop behind the kids is clear. If they were photographing other hulking paparazzi screaming at children, they'd never be able to sell the pictures–even people who want prying photos might be appalled to see grown men screaming awful things at little kids who happen to be the progeny of movie stars. The rest of it? It's Chinatown, Jake, and celebrities do have the option of not misbehaving or photographing intimate moments and leaving them around the house. I won't judge Levin, but I don't have it in me to make a living at the expense of others. Deadline's policy is that if it relates to business, it's fair game. Staying out of personal lives makes it easier to sleep better at night.

BART: Another example of "knowing too much" relates to the Hollywood Reporter's exposure last week of David Milch's personal demons. Milch is a four time Emmy winner (NYPD Blue and Deadwood among others) who has managed to blow $100 million on his gambling habit and owes the IRS $17 million. The THR story is well-written and well-reported, but do readers really need to know the details of the poor writer's drug problems and financial misdeeds? He's a writer and writers are supposed to be crazy. At what point does an artist deserve privacy? TMZ might have given the story thirty seconds and moved on. THR's detailed analysis seemed at once good journalism – but a violation of privacy.

FLEMING: I would not have been proud to have my byline on that story. In my last days before ending a 20-year run at Variety, I was so conflicted with making the decision to join Deadline that my back went out. Bam. I hit the floor and could not get up. I was speaking with Milch and Michael Mann about the race horse drama Lucky that they'd just set at HBO. Milch was sympathetic to my sudden back flare-up; he suffered from back problems his whole life. I wrote the story, moved on, and two days later, Milch delivered to my house a back pillow, which really helped. This was the first time I'd spoken with Milch and I don't think we've spoken since and since I don't cover TV often, he gained nothing by doing this; he was being kind. Now, I recognize the guts it took to dig up and expose the famous writer's personal spiral, and it is certainly startling he lost that much money. I just didn't see it doing much for the greater good, though; no crime was exposed. THR profited at the expense of a fundamentally decent, flawed man. From those hacked Sony email documents on down, every journalist has to draw lines of decency in the sand in the digital age, only to cross them out and make new ones in order to stay competitive. It is impossible to imagine you will always feel good about every decision made under those conditions, when you look back.


from:
http://deadline.com/2016/02/harvey-levin-tmz-new-yorker-magazine-david-milch-1201707002/

[Sven2]

Not surprisingly, even the article above, halfheartedly trying to defend the right of a celebrity to some level of privacy, is misrepresenting the facts. The number of "Mr.Milch's $17 million debt to IRS" travels from one article to another, perhaps because it sounds  more sensational than the actual $5 million.

"Segal then informed Rita that "she and David were approximately $17 million in debt — $5 million in unpaid taxes and penalties, $10 million in mortgages(...) and $2 million in fees to NKSFB and others". That is  the original text in the THR article.

--Sven2

[SaveJFC Admin]

Thank you for this correction, Sven!  In general, it has been bothering me that this personal problem of Mr. Milch is not able to stay private.  Now that I know that the facts have been misrepresented it's another reason why journalists (even if they are "just bloggers") should be held to fact-checking standards. 

I recently updated http://deadwoodchronicles.com so it is now a WordPress site.  When I setup the blog I saw all the articles about Mr. Milch's debt and I specifically chose not to put any posts about it on the site.  It just seemed too... unseemly. 

OTOH, maybe it's the wake up call he needs to get help...  I wish him the best and hope that this news does not delay the Deadwood Movie that has been approved by HBO.

[Sven2]

The thought of omitting the news did cross my mind, Save. However, nothing even remotely disrespectful to Mr.Milch had ever appeared on our site and never will. The facts of his financial troubles are widely publicized already and it seems appropriate to post it here, where we have a more or less current and representative collection of related info all in one place. (Not a Library of Congress, of course, a pity! :))

Besides, Mr.Milch is, unusually for a celebrity, open and painfully frank about his personal life. I watched a lot of his YouTube lectures and video recordings and can say it is at times uncomfortable to hear and sometimes simply heartbreaking.

We'll hope and wait for Deadwood!

[Sven2]

Jeff Bridges Will Star in David Milch's Adaptation of 'Shadow Country'
Posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2016 by Jack Giroux

Deadwood fans saw a slight flicker of hope last month for the long-awaited sequel to the series. Concluding David Milch's riveting series as an HBO film has been talked about for years, but it's finally seeming, oddly, more realistic as the years go by.

HBO programming president, Michael Lombardo, said they're just waiting on Milch to make it happen, and that he was currently busy with another project. That other project? Possibly an adaptation of Shadow County, starring Jeff Bridges, for HBO.

The Hollywood Reporter published a very in-depth piece about Milch's financial struggles and gambling addiction, titled "How the $100 Million 'NYPD Blue' Creator Gambled Away His Fortune." It's a bit odd reading that much about a stranger's personal life, but the piece does cover Milch's career highs and lows and what he's been working.

Briefly touched upon in the story (via Indiewire) is Shadow Country. Milch is writing an adaptation of Peter Matthiessen's epic period piece. Set in the 19th century, the story follows outlaw E. J. Watson.

Here's the book's synopsis:

    Inspired by a near-mythic event of the wild Florida frontier at the turn of the twentieth century, Shadow Country reimagines the legend of the inspired Everglades sugar planter and notorious outlaw E. J. Watson, who drives himself relentlessly toward his own violent end at the hands of neighbors who mostly admired him, in a killing that obsessed his favorite son.

    Shadow Country traverses strange landscapes and frontier hinterlands inhabited by Americans of every provenance and color, including the black and Indian inheritors of the archaic racism that, as Watson's wife observed, "still casts its shadow over the nation."

From what I've read about Matthiessen's book, it sounds massive and well suited for HBO. Jeff Bridges, presumably, will play outlaw E. J. Watson. Admittedly, Bridges has starred in some disappointing films since winning an Academy Award for Crazy Heart, but he is Jeff Bridges, and you gotta be excited about the idea of him delivering Milch's dialogue.

The executive producer and writer's last two shows for HBO, John from Cincinnati and Luck, didn't quite connect with audiences. John from Cincinnati was probably a little too out there for some viewers, while the the gambling drama faced plenty of bad luck. Neither show lasted more than two seasons.

We're not sure when we'll see Shadow Country, but hopefully sooner rather than later.

from:
http://www.slashfilm.com/jeff-bridges-shadow-county-adaptation/


CORRECTION:

'Luck' and 'John From Cincinnati' each run for one season, not two, as the author states.
-Sven2