HBO and David Milch Sign Multi-Year Production Pact

David Milch's Redboard Productions has entered into a new multi-year exclusive television deal with HBO, which will also cover any further services on the upcoming series "Luck," starring Dustin Hoffman and debuting on the network Sunday, Jan. 29. Redboard has also concluded an agreement with the William Faulkner Literary Estate to produce films and television series based on selections from Faulkner's bibliography. The deal covers all of the 19 novels and 125 short stories in the estate, as well as other works, with the exception of those currently contracted with other parties. ICM, which reps Milch, brokered the deal with Redboard and the William Faulkner Literary Estate.

Under the terms of the agreement, Milch will partner with Lee Caplin, the executor of the William Faulkner Literary Estate and CEO of Picture Entertainment Corp., to choose which works to develop, package and produce. Both Milch and Caplin will act as executive producers of those projects, with Milch serving as the executive writer in charge of adapting the works. The agreement gives HBO an exclusive first opportunity to finance, produce and distribute the projects as movies, miniseries and series. Olivia Milch will serve as coordinating producer on the projects.

"We are especially pleased to continue our longstanding relationship with one of the industry's most talented contemporary writers," says Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming. "We know that whatever David brings to the HBO table will be exciting and innovative."

"I'm delighted to expand my longstanding relationship with HBO to encompass the adaptation of some of the most important literary works by any American writer into television films and series," says Milch. "As we embark on this ambitious project, our first commitment is to serve the material, and we look forward to identifying and collaborating with the best screenwriters and filmmakers to help each of the pieces find its ideal form onscreen."

About Redboard Productions

Redboard Productions is the Production Company of multiple Emmy(R) Award-winning writer and producer David Milch, whose latest television series, "Luck," starring Dustin Hoffman, debuts Jan. 29 on HBO. Milch, who won the Tinker Prize for highest achievement in English at Yale University and earned an M.F.A. from the Writer's Workshop at Iowa University, left a teaching career at Yale to write for "Hill Street Blues," subsequently serving as executive story editor and then executive producer for the show. In 1992, Milch co-created the history-making police drama "NYPD Blue," taking home Emmys(R) for Best Writing in a Drama for the 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 seasons. Milch co-created another police drama, "Brooklyn South," and also created and executive produced HBO's award-winning western series "Deadwood." He is currently developing the feature film "Heavy Rain" for Warner Bros.