Congratulations to former 24 writers Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa, Chip Johannessen (and other 24 crew members including Sean Callery, Brad Turner, and Michael Klick) for their huge win at tonights Golden Globes. Their new Showtime series Homeland scored a major and much deserved win for best television drama series (Claire Danes also won for best actress in a drama).

Watch the acceptance speech below:

The former 24 crew sent out their congratulations via Twitter with director Jon Cassar tweeting “Congrats to former 24 producer Howard Gordon on the Globe for best drama Homeland. It’s one if the best shows on TV right now. Must see.”

James P Morrison (Bill Buchanan) tweeted “Congratulations to my friend Howard Gordon and all involved in bringing us Homeland.” and first assistant director Nicole Burke called it the “best show on TV.”

Variety has a nice writeup on Howard Gordon’s new show Homeland. I’ve seen the pilot and think the show is fantastic – worth checking out when it premieres on October 2nd after Dexter. Here’s their full interview with Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, two ex-24 writers:

Howard Gordon can’t seem to shake visions of waterboarding and dirty bombs.

The “24″ showrunner and exec producer wasted little time between ending Jack Bauer’s eight-year run as a rogue counterterrorist agent and launching Showtime’s new terrorism-themed series “Homeland” with his longtime friend and cohort Alex Gansa — a mere 15 months, to be exact.

Gordon was knee-deep in the quest to keep fictional America safe from nuclear, biological, chemical and cyber threats when his agent, WME’s Rick Rosen, called and announced, “I have your next show.” Rosen, who reps the Tel Aviv company that owns the underlying rights to the Israeli version of “Homeland,” thought the controversial series was ripe for translation.

One day after wrapping the “24″ finale, Gordon and fellow “24″ exec producer Gansa met at an L.A. coffee shop and began writing the pilot on spec. The series, which bows Oct. 2 in Showtime’s coveted post-”Dexter” slot, covers the same ground as on “24″ but this time the war-on-terror depictions are more gritty and based less on imagination.

“Both ’24′ and ‘Homeland’ are about terrorism and a counterterrorist, in particular, but the world today is a very different world than the one Jack Bauer occupied when we first came on the scene,” explains Gordon from his office on the Fox lot, where he occupies the so-called “haunted house” suite formerly used by Shawn Ryan and David E. Kelley. “As compelling as the real-time premise of ’24′ was, it was also outlandish. ’24′ was a very pulpy kind of experience. ‘Homeland’ exists in a place that feels more real and more threatening.”

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, film and TV auds have largely avoided fare that has hewed too closely to the evening news. Despite big-name talent and positive reviews, pics such as “In the Valley of Elah” and “Rendition” and skeins like “Over There” met a tepid response.

But Gansa insists that as attitudes about the terrorist threat are beginning to change, so too must the content that depicts it.

“In the wake of 9/11, there was this idea in America that we must respond to the threat of terrorism in a muscular, powerful kind of way, and that was Jack Bauer and ’24,’ ” says Gansa. “Ten years later, Osama Bin Laden has been found and killed, and the country is taking stock. Did we react overact? Our thinking as a society has evolved.”

It was no surprise that Fox, where Gordon has his deal, bought the pilot spec, hoping to marry the series with a broadcast network given that the long-term economics are better for such arrangements. But Gordon and Gansa always hoped for a cable network home. The pilot drew interest from both broadcast and cable, but newly esconced Showtime prexy David Nevins made the biggest play.

“It really needed to be on a network that would allow certain content that we had in mind,” says Gordon, who is doing double duty as showrunner and exec producer of NBC’s midseason drama “Awake.” “It’s not so much about the nudity and swearing,” which is plentiful, “it’s that you don’t have to write to these artificial act breaks, which tend to be a disruptive thing. It creates an artificial necessity to bring the story to certain pitched places that weren’t really conducive to this particular story. (The show) is slow-boiling psychological drama. We hope the audience is in this sort of hypnotic state, and the idea of having to leave that for a commercial break didn’t really work for this concept.”

Gordon says it has taken a decade for Stateside viewers to be ready to delve into a series like “Homeland,” which broaches the possibility of a rescued American POW having flipped to the enemy’s side.

” ‘Homeland’ could not have happened in the direct wake of 9/11,” says Gordon. “This show asks the question: Where are we now and what should we be afraid of? (Ten years ago), we all knew what we needed to be afraid of. A lot of us aren’t so sure now.”

Source: Variety

Showtime’s upcoming series Homeland has been building up quite the crew from 24. First was Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. Then came Emmy-winning composer Sean Callery and producer Michael Klick. Chip Johannessen joined the writing crew in April and now Deadline reports that longtime 24 director Brad Turner is filming episodes.

An extended trailer for the series was released by Showtime last week.

Homeland premieres on October 2nd after the sixth season premiere of Dexter.

Former 24 writer and executive producer David Fury (who I consider the best 24 writer in recent years – he gave us Logan’s “That’s Jack Bauer!” scene and Fayed’s death episode among others) has announced via Twitter that he has joined the production team of FOX’s Fringe.

This puts him back under the Bad Robot umbrella – he used to work as a writer on a little show called Lost before joining 24.

For those keeping score... I'm back under the Bad Robot umbrella... New writer-prod on a little show called FRINGE. Couldn't be happier.

May 18, 2011 2:06 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@Dfury

David Fury

Congrats Mr. Fury!

Guy Skinner (via Wiki 24)

The Society of Camera Operators 2011 Lifetime Achievement Awards has nominated 24‘s Guy Skinner for “Camera Operator of the Year: Television”.

Other nominees in that category include Tony Gaudioz of House, Greg Collier of Bones, David Frederick of Sons of Anarchy, and Doc Karman of Raising Hope.

The awards take place on February 5, 2011 – more details on the Society of Camera Operators website. Good luck to Guy Skinner!

I’ve gotten word that two long-time 24 crew members have joined Showtime’s Homeland, an upcoming television drama series written by 24 executive producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa.

Sean Callery, who has won multiple Emmy awards for his work as composer on the 24 series, will be scoring the Homeland pilot. Callery has been nominated for every season of 24 and most recently won the 2010 Emmy for Best Musical Score in a Drama Series.

24‘s Michael Klick (who has also been with the show from the very first season) will be serving as producer on Homeland. Klick was a producer on 24 and directed several episodes in the seventh and eighth seasons as well as the Chloe’s Arrest epilogue.

Homeland is scheduled to begin shooting early January in Charlotte, North Carolina. There’s a very strong cast lined up including Claire Danes, Mandy Patkin, and Damien Lewis all in starring roles.

Here’s the final remaining segment from the “Eight Days” special feature found on the 24 Complete Series box set, this one called Memories and Moments.

The producers of 24 share their favorite scenes of the series and tell stories about working on the show – collaborating with the military, the shows popularity in the White House, and more. This feature runs nine minutes and is a great watch.

Check out my 24 Complete Series review for my thoughts on the box set and videos of the other bonus features (Jack Bauer: Evolution of a Hero, Presidents, Friends and Villains, Goodbye, Chloe’s Arrest, and more). You can buy the 24 Season 8 on DVD on Amazon – it’s also available on on Blu-Ray.

Virtually New York special feature found on disk 6 of the 24 Season 8 DVD.

Director Brad Turner, showrunner Howard Gordon, Director of Photography Rodney Charters, producer Paul Gadd, and visual effects supervisors Sam Nicholson, Eddie Bonin, James Riley, digital compositing supervisor Chris Martin, and CGI supervisor Al Lopez describe how they faked New York with creative use of green screens and CG technology.

On Sunday (Dec. 12), a large group of friends, family and colleagues gathered at the Darryl Zanuck Theater on the 20th Century Fox studio lot in Los Angeles, Calif., to pay tribute to casting director Peggy Kennedy, who died on Friday, Dec. 3, at the age of 65 (a number which, during her life, appeared to have been a source of comic dispute) after a brief battle with cancer.

According to the program at the service, Kennedy was born in Laurelton, N.Y., majored in theater arts as an undergraduate at the University of Dayton and then pursued a master’s degree from Ohio University. She began her TV career working for “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson” in New York City, and then followed that show when it moved to Burbank, Calif.

After a stint as an assistant at talent agency ICM in the ’70s, Kennedy moved into casting in the ’80s, working on such shows as “L.A. Law,” “Chicago Hope,” and, most recently, the FOX dramas “24″ and “Human Target.” She also worked on the movie “Reservoir Dogs.”

With partner Debi Manwiller — who spoke at the memorial — Kennedy won an Emmy in 2004 for outstanding casting on “24.”

Ironically, Kennedy passed away on the very night that “24″ fans had gathered in Hollywood for a marathon-viewing challenge to benefit the charity My Hope for Children.

One of the “24″ staffers who visited the marathon was executive producer Howard Gordon, who told Zap2it after the memorial, “I knew she was sick, but I didn’t know how sick.”

Among those also spotted at the memorial from “24″ were producer/director Jon Cassar, producers/writers David Fury and Evan Katz (“The Event”), show co-creator Joel Surnow, and cast members Glenn Morshower, Carlos Bernard. Mary Lynn Rajskub, Mykelti Williamson and Navid Negahban (he played Abdullah during Season 4, and Jamot during Season 8).

Speakers at the event recalled Kennedy’s sunny disposition, talent, professionalism, and her love of parties, her cats and historic preservation in her home community of West Hollywood.

“There aren’t enough good things to say about Peggy,” said Gordon. “She was sweet; she was kind. Navid just told me a story. He said that every time he’d read [for a role] and didn’t get a part, she’d walk him out and say, ‘That was great. There’s going to be a part. We have a wonderful part coming up.’

“So she cultivated that among the actors. There’s not an actor who didn’t love her. Peggy understood the power of honey instead of a stick. She understood the power of respect and of kindness, instead of cruelty and indifference. That was her trademark. Look at this turnout. That is not accidental.”

Negahban echoed Gordon’s comments, saying, “Every time I’d come in to read, and I didn’t get it, she’d call my agent and say, ‘There are good parts coming up.’”

Asked if that happens often, Negahban shook his head, saying, “No. She was very sweet.”

Source: Zap2It

Shocking news in the TV talent community. Emmy-winning casting director Peggy Kennedy died today at Cedars-Sinai only a week after being diagnosed with cancer. She started off as a casting associate on Reservoir Dogs, L.A. Law and Chicago Hope before joining Debi Manwiller as a casting director on Level 9, Wolf Lake, 24 and, most recently, Human Target. In 2004, the two won an Emmy for their work on 24.

This is a message Manwiller posted on her Facebook page yesterday:
My dear Peggy is indeed ill. She was diagnosed with cancer last week and is currently in ICU at Cedars. They are taking another biopsy today to see if she has lymphoma which would be treatable with chemo. This has all been incredibly sudden. Please keep her in your prayers. Send light and love.

Very sad news – not only was she extremely friendly and well-loved but she was fantastic at her job (as her Emmy win proves), lining up a fantastic cast on 24 each year. You can view Peggy on the 24 Season 5 DVD “Supporting Players” special feature.

Source: Deadline

Here’s a video of Howard Gordon talking about his upcoming thriller novel Gideon’s War. I was sent an early copy of the book and it was excellent – 24 fans will most definitely enjoy this one. I’ll be able to share more details including my full review in the following weeks. Gideon’s War releases on January 11, 2011, you can pre-order it on Amazon today.

YouTube Link: Hear Howard Gordon on his novel GIDEON’S WAR

Update: Check out the FULL special feature for The Ultimate CTU here.

Here’s a clip from the 24 Season 8 DVD feature “The Ultimate CTU”. Production designer Carlos Barbosa explains how he chose the location for CTU NY.

24 Season 8 is out now in the UK on DVD and Blu-Ray. The US release date is December 14th, just over a month from now.

You can buy the 24 Season 8 on DVD on Amazon – it’s also available on on Blu-Ray.

Howard Gordon did an interview with Sky UK and revealed that at one point early on, network executives were considering Jeff Goldblum for the role of Jack Bauer. “But once Kiefer [Sutherland] came up that was pretty much done”, he says.

He also speaks of the final scene in the series finale and briefly about the upcoming 24 movie.

Source: Sky

Now that the new TV season has started I thought it would be interesting to take a look at where the 24 crew went after the series ended a few months ago. Fans that have watched the DVD bonus features probably know that the cast and crew were very close to each other, and that’s proven by this list – many of them chose to work together on future projects.

Dexter

Chip Johannessen became showrunner of Showtime’s hit series Dexter last December, and brought along some 24 crew with him including Manny Coto (writer and executive producer), director Milan Cheylov, costume designer Jim Lapidus, and the Emmy-winning David Latham (editor). One of his first orders of business was creating a new recurring character named FBI Agent Walker – nice! Also look out for Peter Weller (Christopher Henderson from Season 5) to show up soon as a recurring character.

Hawaii Five-0

Lots of 24 folks went over to this show. Showrunner of Hawaii Five-0 on CBS is Peter Lenkov, who was a writer during 24 Season 4. Brad Turner is directing/co-executive producer and the crew also features Nicole Burke (first assistant director), Scott Remick (second assistant director), and Jeff Cadiente (stunt coordinator) with Stephen Kronish serving as a consultant. Jean Smart (24‘s Martha Logan) plays Governor Pat Jameson and Daniel Dae Kim (CTU’s Agent Baker, Season 2 & 3) plays a detective. I’m not usually a fan of procedurals, but this is a pretty good show that captures the 24 intensity.

The Event

Evan Katz was hired by NBC as showrunner of “The Event”, a show which is heavily influenced by 24. Many actors from 24 have popped up: Željko Ivanek (Andre Drazen, Season 1), Gonzalo Menendez (Pablo, Season 3), Bill Smitrovich (McLennan, Season 4), Tony Todd (Juma, Season 7), Ian Anthony Dale (Zhou, Season 6), Omid Abtahi (Season 4 & 7), D.B. Sweeney (Bledsoe, Season 8), with Necar Zadegan (Dalia Hassan, Season 8) being cast recently as well. The series has been picked up for a full season earlier this week and Milan Cheylov directed Monday’s episode.

Terra Nova

Steven Spielberg’s new series on FOX “Terra Nova” is being led by 24‘s Brannon Braga and directed by Jon Cassar. Former 24 production designers Joseph Hodges (seasons 1-7) and Carlos Barbosa (season 8) have joined the crew as well. Mido Hamada (Samir Mehran in Season 8) was just cast as a series regular on the show. While David Fury was originally attached as a writer/executive producer, he has recently quit citing “creative differences”. FOX has big plans for this series with insiders dubbing it “the next Lost” and it being given a huge budget – it’s looking to be the most expensive pilot ever made with estimates at 20 million dollars for the first episode. The show has a 13 episode order and will premiere next year.

The Kennedys

24 series co-creator Joel Surnow teamed up with former 24 director and executive producer Jon Cassar on The Kennedy’s, a new eight hour miniseries for History Channel. Stephen Kronish (24 writer and producer Seasons 3-7) wrote the screenplay and Sean Callery, the Emmy-winning composer of 24 will be scoring the music. It premieres early next year.

Howard Gordon’s projects

24 showrunner Howard Gordon is working on an adaptation of Israeli television show “Hahatufim” with fellow 24 writer and friend Alex Gansa. The working title is Homeland and has been picked up by Showtime with Ben Affleck interested in directing the pilot episode.

Gordon has keeping busy with multiple other projects in the works. He wrote a thriller novel titled “The Obelisk” which is set for release on January 11, 2011. He’s also partnering with Glee‘s Ryan Murphy on a new series for FOX and is executive producing Legends, a drama pilot centered around a CIA Agent for NBC.

Other shows

Those were five of the bigger projects, but here’s a bunch more (updated – thanks to all who pointed out missing things):

• Juan Carlos Coto is writing and producing CW’s Nikita which stars Xander Berkeley (George Mason).
• Rodney Charters (24‘s Director of Photography) is working on Showtime’s upcoming series Shameless which premieres in January. (thanks Lisa)
• Annie Wersching (Renee Walker) is guest-starring on CSI on October 21st while Katee Sackhoff (Dana Walsh) will guest-star the following week.
• Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe O’Brian) will guest star on the hilarious ABC comedy Modern Family as Mitchell’s old high-school girlfriend.
• Janeane Garofalo (Janis Gold) will be a series regular on Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior which premieres in January 2011.
• Anil Kapoor (Omar Hassan) is heading to the big-screen with a role in Mission Impossible 4.
• Stargate Universe has a number of 24 actors – Robert Carlyle (Benton in 24 Redemption), Lou Diamond Phillips, Carlo Rota (Morris O’Brian), Justin Louis (Danny Dessler), and Reiko Aylesworth (Michelle Dessler).
• Kiefer Sutherland wrapped on Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia film in September.
• James Morrison (Bill Buchanan) has recurring roles on Private Practice and HawthoRNe and has recently guest-starred in Law and Order Los Angeles and The Mentalist.
• It’s not all good news though – Jon Voight and Nazneen Contractor (Lone Star), Marisol Nichols (The Gates), and Carlos Bernard (Scoundrels) all had their shows cancelled recently.

As for the 24 movie? Seems like it’s stuck in typical slow Hollywood process with people moving on to other projects in the meantime. Billy Ray who was the screenwriter of the 24 movie is now writing and directing a remake of “The Secret in Their Eyes” for Warner Bros. If Twentieth Century Fox were smart, they would fast track this movie while the Bourne and Bond franchises are in limbo: now is the perfect time for Jack Bauer to make his big-screen debut.

In its first major development decision since taking the programming reins at Showtime as entertainment president, David Nevins is close to greenlighting his first pilot, a psychological thriller, from former 24 executive producer/showrunner Howard Gordon. Ben Affleck, hot off the No.1 opening of his crime caper The Town, is circling to direct. He has read the script and is very interested contingent on availability. If dates could be worked out, this would mark Affleck’s TV directorial debut.

Tentatively titled Homeland, the drama is based on the Israeli format Prisoners of War from Keshet Broadcasting, the Israeli company behind Fox’s midseason comedy series Mixed Signals. Gordon and fellow 24 executive producer Alex Gansa co-wrote the project on spec with Gideon Raff, the creator of the original series.

20th Century Fox TV, where Gordon is under an overall deal, acquired the rights to Prisoners of War for Gordon and Gansa in March, shortly after the original series’ launch in Israel had drawn a lot of attention. Featuring an all-star cast, the Keshet series tells the story of three soldiers who return home from 17 years in Syrian captivity and must readjust to life in Israel and reunite with their families. It went on to win the Israeli equivalent of an Emmy for dramatic series.

In the American version, 10 years after two American solders had gone missing during the invasion of Baghdad, one is recovered during a drone strike on an Al-Qaeda safe house in Afghanistan, the only one to survive the bombing. He is given a hero’s welcome home where he is reunited with his family. At the same time, a female CIA operative who had spent a lot of time in Afghanistan receives a tip from an informant that “the American prisoner has been turned and he is the tip of the spear, leading the next big strike against the American homeland,” Gordon said. The solder and the CIA agent trying to expose him are the two leads on the show, which Gordon said “combines some of the suspense elements of the thriller genre but it also has a wonderful family drama at the center of it.”

Source: Deadline

More information from The Live Feed including a status update on the 24 movie:

Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa (“24”) will executive produce the project. Coming off the byzantine-plotted “24,” Gordon said the more limited length of a Showtime season will be ideal for “Homeland.”

“This feels like the exact right canvas for this story; a full broadcast season would be overladen,” Gordon said. “ ‘24’ felt like it was sometimes hamstrung by the conceit. When you’re talking about fairly deep conspiracies, you need a novelistic kind of length that cable allows to feel appropriately hefty. If you have a terrorist strike every week, it feels monotonous and silly.”

As for the potential of a “24” movie, Gordon said, “There is no update except that it’s not dead.