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Augusten Burroughs' biting satire Sellevision is now being made into a one-hour television series.
The novel, by the author of memoirs Dry and Running with Scissors, was published in 2003 and focuses on the lives of the people on Sellevision, a 24-hour cable shopping network. It is the story of a former host who is fired for accidentally exposing himself on the air and a hostess who is receiving increasingly creepier e-mails from an anonymous stalker. Burroughs' novel skewers the fake intimacy of modern, American 24-hour media as he characteristically exposes our most uncomfortably identifiable human frailties.
But now a major TV network, NBC, has optioned the rights to the book. Burroughs' prose is so acerbic and blue it's hard to imagine how it will be translated for network TV broadcast. Ironically, his writing style would be a better fit for an environment under fewer restrictions, like a 24-hour cable network.
Still, Burroughs' fictional world apparently strikes a chord with TV execs. Co-executive producer for the series is Mark Bozek, a former CEO of the Home Shopping Network and QVC. The teleplay is being written by Bryan Fuller (Heroes, Pushing Daisies) and the show will be directed by Bryan Singer (director of the pilot episode of House, as well as films X-Men, Valkyrie). No word yet what actors will be attached or when the self-reflexive oeuvre will premiere on TV.
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What fabulous news for a male gay writer! His work is terrific. Millions of women are waiting for a gay woman author to make it mainstream, besides one lady from the UK. Jeri Estes'' semi-autobiographical, thrilling, break through novel, STILETTOS AND STEEL, has been submitted to NY's top publishers. Jeri has defied all stereotypes of LGBT literature with her protagonist, Jesse, a sexy dyke pimp.
Jesse fled the San Fernando Valley at sixteen, drawn to the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. The “TL” was a red-light district and the original gay ghetto of the west coast, prior to the Castro. During the sixties, the streets were alive with drug dealers, queers, pimps, hippies and whores. Vietnam soldiers and curious tourists braved its brothels and nightclubs under the watchful eyes of the dirty cops. Colorful queens peppered the sidewalks, dressed to the nines in high heels and high hair.
Surviving the hard-edged streets, Jesse enters the world of prostitution and discovers the gay subculture within it. Women gangsters lived by their own codes and values. Her trajectory from hooker to sophisticated pimp, catering to dirty politicians, crooked cops and bored housewives takes us on a journey that captures the imagination.
Akin to the works of Richard Price and George Pelecanos, Jeri Estes reveals the gritty underbelly of American society. STILETTOS AND STEEL, the first in a three-book, pulp fiction series, is a throw-back to classic noir, complete with the genre’s traditional love story and wry sense of humor, with a fresh, new voice.
Agency: www.fletcherandco.com
Swanna MacNair
A Hollywood "Big Five" agency is packaging the STILETTOS AND STEEL project. Described as an authentic, "Sopranos meets the L Word" for cable and feature film.
www.myspace.com/jeriestes