The Departed's William Monahan Developing Crime Drama At Starz

From costumes to cars and even politics, the sixties were an interesting time and Starz has plans to relive the decade with a little help from Atlas Entertainment. The duo are set to produce Crime, a drama project set in London that will take a look at the large city’s criminal components. Originally considered to be fodder for a feature film, the project is now going into gear on the subscription cable network, with Academy Award winning writer William Monahan attached to write.

Monahan is probably best known for his script for The Departed, which earned him an Oscar in 2006. While the man doesn’t have television experience, he does have experience with writing period pieces such as Kingdom of Heaven. He's also dealt with crime and London before, when he wrote the 2010 film, London Boulevard. Additionally, the writer told THR that he’s very interested in the subject material.

“There’s very little more interesting to me than the '60s in Britain. Taken from Profumo to psychedelia, from the London criminal world to the worlds of art and fashion -- all of which continually intersected. I know one thing: it’s very, very, funny.”

Despite the humor Monahan seems to find in the project, Crime is being set up as a drama for Starz and is being described as “as study” on various criminal groups and activity across the city. Moving forward at the network, Charles Roven and William Green will executive produce, and Monahan, Andy Horwitz, and Justine Suzanne Jones will earn co-executive producing credits. TV Blend will keep you posted if this project moves forward at the network, but with a partnership for worldwide distribution in place and Starz hungry for new original content, Crime has a lot going for it.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.