Englewood-based Starz Entertainment is getting into the original TV drama business with “Crash,” based on the Academy Award-winning film.
The 13-episode one-hour series is scheduled to debut late this year.
Don Cheadle is on board — behind and in front of the camera.
The drama will be co-produced with Lionsgate and shot principally in Los Angeles. Key players from the film’s production team have signed on for the TV series, notably director-writer-producer Paul Haggis; writer-producer Bobby Moresco; producers Cheadle, Bob Yari and Mark Harris; and executive producer Tom Nunan.
Casting is under discussion, although Cheadle is set to recreate his film character.
Starz greenlit the project based on a pilot script, Starz vice president for original programming, Michael Ruggiero, said today.
“Crash,” which was distributed by Lionsgate, marks only the second time a best-picture Oscar winner has been turned into a series. “In the Heat of the Night” was the first.
Lionsgate Entertainment has an interim agreement with the Writers Guild that enables the company to work in spite of the strike. “With this interim resolve, we can forge ahead,” Ruggiero said.
Haggis has said he initially conceived “Crash” as a television project, before turning it into a film script. Now, the project will come full circle.
The adult nature of the story makes it well suited to pay TV, Ruggiero said.
Cheadle, a graduate of Denver’s East High School, sees the series as “an opportunity to delve into many subjects, not just race relations in L.A.,” according to a statement from Starz. “I don’t think you can do 13 episodes on that subject and keep people interested. The challenge will be to craft series characters in such a way as to get beneath the skin that supposedly differentiates them and create entertaining story lines that show the hurdles and obstacles we all struggle to overcome day to day.”
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
