Starz announced today that it has started development on “Storyville,” a new series set in New Orleans during the turn of the 20th century. There and then, prostitution was decriminalized and an exceedingly vibrant, hedonistic, celebratory subculture emerged and helped fuel the birth of jazz. Award-winning film and theatre writer/director George C. Wolfe (Nights in Rodanthe, Lackawanna Blues) will serve as screenwriter and director with Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment producing the series, led by Scott Huff, Vice President of Development and Production.
“We’re glad to be working in partnership again with Colin Callender and Playground Entertainment on this series and with one of Broadway’s most respected producers and directors, George C. Wolfe for the first time,” said Starz Managing Director Carmi Zlotnik. “His love and expertise in this particular world will allow us to take viewers back to turn-of-the-century New Orleans during the birth of jazz in the midst of profound corruption.”
“Storyville” is based on an original idea by George C. Wolfe, who won three Tony Awards for the 1992 Broadway musical “Jelly’s Last Jam”. That story followed Jelly Roll Morton, whose career began in the “Storyville” district. Wolfe’s theatre credits include directing Nora Ephron’s Tony-nominated “Lucky Guy,” starring Tom Hanks in his Broadway debut and winning a Tony for his work on “Angels in America”.
