HBO just okayed two drama concepts to get further consideration for the network. One is from Oscar winners Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) and Adam McKay (The Big Short). Both are offering totally different stories that we can only hope will see the Home Box Office screen.
We reported on Bigelow’s concept back on 12.17.15 in a Slate post. Here is that blurb:
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Kathryn Bigelow Developing Topical Drama
The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow (pictured) is embarking on the daring and bold topic of Jihadi recruitment. She will serve as overseeing executive producer for the concept which –
aims to “draw open an iron curtain behind which viewers will see the highly impenetrable world of Jihadi recruitment.” The series will take place in Minnesota, which happens to be one of the leading jihadist recruitment areas in the United States.
K’naan Warsame, a rapper/poet, has impressed her enough evidently to sign him on as not only as writer but as potential director if a pilot is greenlit. It is hoped to be fleshed out as a full drama series and though we don’t know much now about this concept it already proves to be a powerful, topical and controversial issue that we hope comes to fruition for Bigelow, HBO and us.
(Source: Collider)
That work had been since called THE RECRUITERS, but it took until now for HBO to grant a pilot order for the work. It now takes on the title of MOGADISHU, MINNESOTA and still has Ka’naan Warsame writing and directing. It will still address the issues and people at the heart of America’s hotbed for Jihadi recruitment. If it goes forward it should be a controversial and heated series and one just right for HBO. Warsame and Bigelow executive produce with Carolyn Strauss (GAME OF THRONES.)
Adam McKay, who has had a development deal with HBO, offers up something completely different yet just as topical. Our main source for this piece (cited below) likens this concept to the 
current issue facing Paramount head Sumner Redstone. The work is called SUCCESSION. It is described as following –
the saga of a fictional, American global-media family that is not only rich and powerful but also powerfully dysfunctional. The drama will explore family loyalty, international business, and the perils of power in the 21st century.
Adam McKay is no stranger to HBO has he has produced the series FUNNY OR DIE PRESENTS… and EASTBOUND AND DOWN. Jesse Armstrong (The Thick of It) wrote the script and is executive producing with Gary Sanchez, McKay, Will Ferrell, Kevin Messick and Frank Rich (VEEP). Though there is not a lot of information to go on here at least we see some forward progress and some ideas in the pipeline for HBO. We can only hope that it sticks.
(Source: Deadline)
