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David Milch
Creator, Executive Producer and Head Writer
In
1982, David Milch, a lecturer in English literature at Yale University
and neophyte screenwriter, wrote a script for HILL STREET BLUES.
The episode, "Trial By Fury," premiered HILL STREET'S
third season and won the Emmy, the Writers Guild Award, and the
Humanitas Prize for that season.
Milch's
academic years were distinguished by achievements and honors, in
some ways foreshadowing his future success in television. He graduated
Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Yale, where he won the Tinker
Prize for highest achievement in English. He then earned an MFA,
with distinction, from the Writer's Workshop at Iowa University.
During his nine-year teaching career at Yale, he assisted Robert
Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks in the preperation of several college
textbooks on literature. In addition, Milch's poetry and fiction
have been published in various journals, including The Atlantic
Monthly and Southern Review.
The
success of his first script, however, marked the end of his academic
career and the beginning of a career in dramatic television. He
spent five seasons with HILL STREET BLUES, first as Executive Story
Editor and subsequently as Executive Producer. During that time,
Milch earned two more Writers Guild Awards, a second Humanitas prize,
and another Emmy.
Milch's
career gained momentum throughout the 1980's with the addition of
two other series to his credits. In 1987, he created and Executive
Produced the HILL STREET BLUES spin-off BEVERLY HILLS BUNTZ, which
featured NYPD BLUE co-star Dennis Franz, and, in 1989, Milch served
as Executive Producer of the ABC series CAPITAL NEWS, starring Lloyd
Bridges.
In
1992, Milch co-created the history-making police drama NYPD BLUE.
The highly-rated series set a record by garnering 26 Emmy Nominations
its premier season, winning the award for Best Drama Series in 1994-1995.
Milch took home Emmys for Best Writing in a Drama for the 1996-1997
and 1997-1998 seasons. The first season of NYPD BLUE also earned
Milch a Humanitas Prize and an Edgar Award for his screenwriting.
While
still at the helm of NYPD BLUE, Milch created another police drama,
BROOKLYN SOUTH, co-authored, along with NYPD Blue producer Bill
Clark, TRUE BLUE: The Real Stories Behind NYPD Blue, and served
as creative consultant for Steven Bochco's MURDER ONE and TOTAL
SECURITY.
Since
forming Redboard Productions, Milch co-created BIG APPLE, a one-hour
drama set in New York City's FBI field office. He is currently in
production on DEADWOOD, a new series for HBO. This one-hour drama
is based on actual events in Deadwood, South Dakota, during the
1870's.
Milch
was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1945. His father was a prominent
surgeon and his mother was head of the Board of Education. His brother,
Dr. Robert Milch, also a surgeon, still resides in their hometown
and is Medical Director of Hospice Buffalo.
Milch
is married to Emmy-award winning documentarian, Rita Stern. They
have two daughters, Elizabeth and Olivia, and a son, Benjamin.
Gregg
Fienberg
Co-Executive Producer
Gregg
D. Fienberg graduated in 1983 from UCLA with a Bachelor's degree
in Economics.
Soon
after, he ventured into the film business and has been a successful
producer in television and film ever since.
Among
his Television producing credits is the prestigious network series,
"Twin Peaks," which garnered an Emmy nomination and a
Golden Globe win for Best Series. He also produced "SeaQuest
DSV" and the 2 hour TV movie "Class of 61" for Amblin
Entertainment.
Success
followed Gregg to feature film when he developed and produced the
critically acclaimed and Oscar Award winning (Best Adapted Screenplay)
"Gods and Monsters" which also won Best Picture at the
Independent Spirit Awards. His other film producing credits include
"U2: Rattle and Hum", "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With
Me" and "Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh".
Most
recently Gregg has been Co-Executive producer for the HBO original
cable series "The Mind of The Married Man" and "Carnivale."
Currently
Gregg has several feature film projects in development and lives
in the Los Angeles area with his two sons, Adam and Tho
Davis
Guggenheim
Director, Producer
Davis
Guggenheim was an Executive Producer on "Training Day"
and has directed a feature film called "Gossip," both
for Warner Bros. His television directing credits include recently
completed episodes of "The Shield," "Alias,"
and "24" as well as such critically acclaimed programs
as "NYPD Blue," "ER," and "Party of Five."
He is currently a Producer and Director of the upcoming HBO dramatic
series "Deadwood."
In
1999, Guggenheim undertook an ambitious project documenting the
challenging first year of several novice public school teachers.
The result of this intensive immersion into Los Angeles' public
school system is two films. The First Year and Teach. Both films
were made to address the tremendous need for qualified teachers
in California and nationwide, to create awareness of the cities
as well as inspire the next generation to become teachers.
In
2002, The First Year was selected among eleven thousand candidates
to receive a Peabody Award, the most prestigious ward given in the
field of broadcast television. In addition it received the Grand
Jury Prize at the Full Frame Film Festival, the premiere documentary
film festival in the United States.
Guggenheim's
other documentary films include "Norton Simon: A Man and His
Art," produced for permanent exhibition at the Norton Simon
Museum, and "JFK and the Imprisoned Child," produced for
permanent exhibition at the John F. Kennedy Library. Guggenheim
wrote and edited many films with his father, four-time Academy Award
winner Charles Guggenheim.
A graduate
of Brown University, Guggenheim moved to Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking.
He joined the independent Outlaw Production, working closely with
filmmakers there, including director Steven Soderbergh on the groundbreaking
1989 film "sex lies and Videotapes," and co-producing
other feature films with Outlaw.
Guggenheim
now serves on the Board of Directors TEACH FOR AMERICA; a non-profit
organization that recruits and trains college graduates to teach
in urban and rural schools across America.
Scott
Stephens
Producer
Scott
Stephens is currently producing HBO's anticipated new drama, "Deadwood".
Scott's television career began with the critically acclaimed and
controversial comedy, "The Mind of the Married Man". Prior
to television he produced the award-winning feature comedy, "The
Sex Monster" by writer/director Mike Binder. "The Sex
Monster" garnered the top prize at the US Comedy Arts Festival
for Best Feature Film. In addition Scott also produced a string
of independent feature films including the gritty drama, "Desert
Winds" starring Heather Graham and the breezy dance-film, "Do
You Wanna Dance?".
Scott
is an avid sailor and his counting the days until he can circumnavigate
the world with his family. He currently resides in Los Angeles with
his beautiful wife Jill and his three energetic children, Julian,
Sidney & Price.
Steve Turner
Co-Producer
Steve
Turner grew up in Dearborn, Michigan and received his bachelor's
degree in Film at USC.
He
has been a successful producer in television for the past fifteen
years.
Among
his Television producing credits are the Emmy-Winning series "Northern
Exposure," Robert Altman's "Gun," the PBS movies
"Coyote Waits" and "Thief of Time."
Most
recently he was producing the long running WB series "The Gilmore
Girls."
Currently
Steve lives in Santa Monica with his wife Victoria.
Jody
Worth
Consulting Producer, Writer
Jody
comes to "Deadwood" after spending the past several years
at "NYPD Blue," serving as Supervising Producer and writing
over twenty episodes.
After
receiving his BA in English from U.C. Berkeley, Jody was the singer
and main songwriter for Los Angeles-based rock band Blow-Up, whose
"Easy Knowledge" was judged one of the year's best records
by critics Robert Christgau and Mikal Gilmore. He also produced
records and acted as music supervisor for several feature films.
His career writing for film and television began with "Hill
Street Blues."
Jody
lives in Los Angeles with his wife Debra and daughters Zoe and Sara.
The
Real Deadwood
Series
creator David Milch talks about gold, Custer, betrayal — and
the remarkable accidents of history that created the wildest town
in the West.
Executive
producer David Milch warns that Deadwood is not a docu-drama about
the famed outlaw town. "I want to make it clear," he says,
"that I've had my ass bored off by many things that are historically
accurate."
That
said, Milch spent months immersing himself in the true stories of
the people of 19th century Deadwood, absorbing not just the events,
but also the subtle motivations behind them. "I like to read
the primary materials; I love reading the Black Hills Pioneer, you
know," he says. "I could read that all day. I'm interested
in the personalities who were kind of the first prime movers in
the community."
What
has emerged is a picture of a place finding its own "order"
without the benefit of laws. "Deadwood was a place created
by a series of accidents. A kind of original sin — the appropriation
of what belonged to one people by another people — was enacted
with no pretense at all," he says. "You know, the people
who landed in Manhattan, they paid 24 bucks. Well, maybe they got
a bargain, but they still recognized the obligation to pay. In the
Black Hills, the land had just been given to the Indians, to get
'em to move from another piece of land."
The "appropriation" of the Black Hills began a chain of
events the lead to Deadwood's strange status as a town that wasn't
subject to American laws. "The Black Hills had been given to
the Ogallala Sioux and some other groups. But Custer needed one
more war," Milch says. "Custer was one of a group of young
Turks, young generals in the Civil War. He was a psychopath, which
always gives you a leg up, you know — it makes you more active
and more imaginative in your strategies."
With
an eye toward a political career and even a presidential run, Custer
organized support for a 1,000-man expedition into the Black Hills.
"A lot of people were broke. There was a panic in 1873, and
migrations of people." Milch says. "There were all kinds
of social disruptions going on, and into this foment, you stir in
Custer's personal ambitions.
"Now
for years and years there had been rumors that there was gold in
the Black Hills. But what would become the Dakota Territory was
owned by the Sioux 'for as long as the river shall run' according
to the treaty signed six years before. So Custer says, let me ascertain
the scientific content about the mineral deposits in the hills.
And the guys in the Senate who wanted to run Custer for president
authorized the expedition. Custer gets 25 photographers, reporters
from the New York Times. It's a media event."
"They don't find too much gold. But they find a little, and
Custer makes some hysterical pronouncements in Harper's, I think
it was: 'Gold by the handful! Gold by the pocketful. Gold everywhere
you turn'."
The
coverage led to expeditions into the Dakota Territory, and eventually
to the big gold discovery around what would become Deadwood. But
Custer's rivals urged President Grant — no fan of Custer,
himself — to honor the treaty and oust the prospectors. Grant
had a reputation of being sympathetic to the American Indian, and
had even mentioned in his inauguration address that he hoped to
see Native Americans one day become citizens.
"He
agrees that they won't betray the treaty," Milch says. "Which
makes one in a row. He sends in some cavalry in 1875, and they make
all the whites leave. Calamity Jane had been in there. But in 1876,
people are still broke, and the cavalry who'd been left out there,
they start to go AWOL. They're deserting left and right. The prospectors
come back in and find more gold. Now, you know, Grant was no idiot;
he couldn't get any soldiers to stay in the army. So he said let
'em in, and pull your troops.
"Custer's
got what he wants. Now he gets his troops organized, he's going
to go in and kick the shit out of the Indians. And we all know how
that one turned out. Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull kicked the living
shit out of Custer at Little Big Horn, which is a stone's throw
from Deadwood. That was in late June. By then, the hills were swarming
with prospectors. And they were doing very well."
With the invasion of adventurers, outlaws and entrepreneurs into
a vacuum of order, Deadwood had become a world unto itself. "This
is the equivalent of the first amphibians coming out of the primordial
ooze," Milch says. "In March, there was nothing. All the
whites were lurking in the hills. In June, there were 10,000 people
there. That's a lot of people to move to Buffalo, let alone Indian
Territory. It was not part of America. They were an outlaw community,
and they knew it."
That
meant no government. No organized religion. Not even basic law enforcement.
When a prominent figure in town was murdered, for example, "they
didn't want Congress to take umbrage — what are you, secessionists,
are you setting up your own government? So they just let the guy
go," Milch says. "Not only was there an absence of law,
there was a premium on the continued absence of law. Economic forces
organized the settlement."
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