My New Gig

I am about to add a new show to my sidebar under "My Brilliant Career."  (I get a lot of flak for that sidebar title, but it was meant to be tongue in cheek and was taken from a very good Australian novel-turned-movie that came out at about the same time that I moved to Hollywood.)

My new job is on a Showtime series called Brotherhood.  It's an excellent show.  If you haven't seen it, you should check it out.  (The show has a very nice official website, and you can download episodes and/or watch clips.) It's the Sopranos, except the mob is Irish.  And it's not really the Sopranos, but showrunner Henry Bromell was mentored by David Chase, who created the Sopranos.  I worked for Henry (and David) years ago on another excellent show called "I'll Fly Away."  I'm very excited about working with him again. 

The working situation is different from any I've ever encountered, and I'm excited about that, too.  The entire staff of the show consists of me, Henry, the show's creator Blake Masters, and a very adorable black bulldog named Ozzie.  The four of us will all be in the same room, with no assistants.  We are IT.  There will be none of the garbage that makes me nuts.  There Will Be Writing.

I will have much to say about the show itself.  No, you won't get any plot secrets.  But this show is exactly the kind of thing I love writing. I always refer to it as the dirty underbelly of grace.  It's the kind of show that, like the Sopranos, is redemptive not by showing you how the good guys live, but by showing you how the bad guys live.  It gives the audience a chance to look inside a life -- many lives -- full of unholy choices.  A chance to observe the wages of sin, without actually going to live in that neighborhood.  I can only speak for myself, but this kind of show/movie/whatever always makes me reflect on my own unholy choices, and where they led me, and makes me realize that I should never take grace for granted.

I will be starting as soon as the details of my deal have been worked out. I'm hoping they will be worked out today and I can start on Monday.  A strange way to begin Holy Week.  But this has been a very strange Lent, so it makes sense.

"Vows" you ask?  My plan is to finish the rewrite over the weekend.  (Notice I said my plan.)  Brotherhood is a short-term project (their order is for eight episodes this season) so I will be free to move forward when (I can only think of it as "when") "Vows" does.

You are now completely up to date.

Comments

[Melody]

Wonderful news, Karen. Once the details are ironed out you'll get to do the kind of work you love doing with people you enjoy working with. And it'll be for a short enough time period that you can continue to work on "Vows."

That definitely sounds like answered prayers to me!

[Irenaeus]

Great! I'll check it out. BTW: What's your opinion on the "Is Tony Soprano Dead" question? I think yes, given all the things that one guy in his famous net post pointed out...but I'm curious what you as a writer acquainted with Chase might think.

[Gina]

Congrats and best wishes, Karen. I don't get the channel, but I'll cheer for you from afar, anyway. :-) Hope you'll still have a little time left for blogging.

Oh, and have fun with Ozzie. I miss having dogs for writing partners (my dearly beloved Shelties are long gone). They're so encouraging and they never criticize.

[Tuppence]

Hey, that's great. Working is so much better that not working.

If you want to meet some Rhode Island Irish, Irish Irish, and/or Rhode Island Italians, give me a heads up. Providence is pretty in the spring. projo.com is the local newspaper on the web. Of course, you couldn't use most of the stuff that goes on around here, nobody would believe it.

Your correspondence in Providence,
Tuppence

[Tuppence]

correspondent. CORRESPONDENT.
Oh, well.

[Deirdre Mundy]

Congratulations! This is great for you! (But probably bad for those of us who enjoy your blog--if you're writing to earn money, you'll probably have less time to entertain us for free! =( )

[Karen]

I will definitely be writing less on the blog, but I'll do my best to keep making it worth your click.

[Georgette]

I'm a bit late reading this post. Congratulations! I'm sure glad that there are writers like you to take Christ with them on popular television programs. He is a Good God, indeed! May He work His tremendous grace through you!!

[Maureen]

Great news! (Okay, I'm slow.)

[Jeannine McKenna]

I just love this show!!! As a local Rhode Islander, & metro area to boot; I just wish some of us locals could give some feed(pointers) and also a chance to be an "extra", w/it being advertised on TV and/or by e-mail alerts to those of us that ARE registered to this website. The cast is fantastic!! Keep up the great work!! ; ) J.McK.

[Bill]

Brotherhood is obviously the Whitey/Billy Bulger story, but set in Providence rather than Boston. But the interesting part about the real life situation was the role of the Boston FBI in protecting Whitey from prosecution while he informed on the Italians. Will Brotherhood be developing that theme?