HBO working on two new series with screenwriters of The Departed and Rachel Getting Married

By Sean O'Neal | August 16, 2010 | 9:22pm

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Not to be outdone by its perennial Emmy competitor AMC, HBO has also been snapping up the new shows as of late, and its recent forays into working with prestige filmmaking talent like Martin Scorsese has certainly set the tone for two of its newest projects. The first, Keys To The City, is based on Joel Kostman’s short story collection of the same name and will be written by William Monahan, Oscar-winning scribe behind The Departed. It tells the story of a New York City locksmith who walks into various slice-of-life vignettes in the course of his job, helping out gypsies, musicians, lonely housewives, doctors, and even a group of naked old men. (Dudes mourning the death of Entourage, it sounds like you just found your Sunday night bro-down replacement.)

Also on deck is The Three Weissmans Of Westport, described as “a woman’s search for meaning after her husband of 48 years walks out on her,” which leads her to reconnect with her daughters and share in their own various personal and professional existential crises. The show is based on Cathleen Schine’s novel and will be adapted by Sidney Lumet’s daughter Jenny Lumet, best known for Rachel Getting Married. As our grandmother would have said, this one sounds like a real hoot—a low, mournful hoot from an owl that’s just realized the best years of its life are over.