Dear Hollywood #2

Since you listened so very intently to my first suggestion (wait, no, you didn't), I’ve thought of another, maybe even better suggestion! Foolproof even! This one goes out specifically to all you pay-cable channels that can spend upwards 20 million dollars on things like Band of Brothers and Rome (so basically just you, HBO. Or Showtime, if you’re feeling lucky).

Two words. Ex. Machina. Well, that’s actually just Ex Machina, and it’s a story by Brian K. Vaughn (currently wrapping its run over on DC’s Vertigo imprint), who has a script circling agencies right now that's got everybody in a tizzy, and before this upcoming season, was a exec-producer on LOST (and writer of some of its finest hours). If you don’t know this guy now, and you know names like Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman (should you know them?), you will definitely know him soon. I think. Maybe.

Anyways. Ex Machina. Right. Ex Machina is a story of a civil engineer (Mitchell Hundred) working for NYC who stumbles upon an artifact attached to the Brooklyn Bridge. It blows up, scars his face with some nifty green looking circuitry, and he finds he can control machines. Talks to them even. At this point you’re thinking – dude, I know this script. It’s Jake 2.0 but not in Vancouver (well, it probably will be in Vancouver anyways, but we’ll get to that later). If I wanted to buy a shitty show off SyFy or UPN (like 10 years ago) I could (this is still an HBO exec thinking here)! But wait! So for a few years he [Hundred] tries to be a superhero. He translates well to screen because he’s one of a kind. His powers are somewhat believable (if fantastical), and budget-wise, for a non-procedural, they make sense. You can just green his eyes and those circuits (mostly hidden from plastic surgery), and change his voice when he’s talking to machines. Anyways, it would work.

But now comes the good stuff. So he ends up saving one of the Twin Towers on 9/11. Genius! So BAM, already we’re in an alternate universe. Then he quits the superhero gig, which he was pretty crappy at. And runs for mayor. And wins! So now you’ve got an ex-superhero dealing with topical subjects (think The West Wing, but in Gracie Manor), with somewhat realistic super-human aspects (think Batman), PLUS, you get fanboys who try and connect the dots, and feed web-based meta-games and whatever time-consuming thing advertisers can think of (a-la LOST). And how do you get said fanboys? Well, and here’s where the show is elevated; there’s an arc. A BIG arc. Where did he get his powers? Turns out they’re from an alternate earth, and his powers we’re meant to be the first step in a war. And it all gets very creepy from there on out, but those can be the bread-crumbs. That’s the hook. BUT, the topicality of being the NYC mayor is what brings you back every week. And BAM! Get a good show-runner, cast Ron Livingston as Hundred (don’t worry, Defying Gravity lasted two weeks - if he'll do that, he'll do anything), cast Donald Sutherland as his mentor, somehow get Brian Cox and Ian McShane in the cast (because really, what don’t they elevate), and VIOLA! Insta’ Hit! And then make me show-runner.

P.S. Please film it IN NYC. Fringe moved this season to Vancouver along with everyone else, and it's really obvious. Like Colin Farrel in Phone Booth, everyone knows New York City streets aren't five cars wide, our pedestrian walkways aren't that clean, that's NOT what newstands look anymore (it's not 1985), we have hybrid cabs now, and the Crown Vic NYPD rides were sooooo early 90's.

Love, PSVIII