Sky Buys Scorching Scorsese Gangster Drama

Sky TV has picked up a new Martin Scorsese-directed gangster drama series that HBO hopes will be its next The Sopranos.

The deal was done at the LA Screenings market, where broadcasters from around the world gather to preview pilots for the new US TV season.

Many of the new shows already are locked up through output deals, such as those TVNZ has with Warner Bros and MediaWorks with 20th Century Fox.

But HBO product is on the open market and Sky clearly liked what it saw of Boardwalk Empire, even though one free-to-air source told ScreenScribe.tv it should be called “Boredwalk Empire”.

However, Entertainment Weekly gave it a speculative  “A” recommendation and the talent alone makes it sound like a must-see: the reportedly $US50 million pilot was directed by screen gangster maestro Scorsese (GoodFellas, Mean Streets, Casino) and The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it “one of the hot titles” to come out of the LA Screenings.

Created by Sopranos scribe Terence Winter, it dramatises Prohibition-era Atlantic City and stars Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Gretchen Mol and Michael Shannon.

Sky isn’t commenting on where it will air the 12-part series. Given it’s HD, hopefully it will screen in double-episodes on Sky Movies rather than be wasted in SD on The Box, where Sky plays Dexter and used to screen the underrated Irish mobster drama, Brotherhood, or on Sky’s free-to-air SD service, Prime.

In the meantime, you can read more about Boardwalk Empire here and see the trailer here.