HBO Rides with 'Cocaine Cowboys'

Zap2It.com | December 23, 2008

Jerry Bruckheimer

Discuss this story now

Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Bay will produce drama

HBO has ponied up for "Cocaine Cowboys," a drama about the 1980s drug trade in Miami.

Prolific producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay brought the project, based on a documentary by Billy Corben, to the cable channel and will executive produce. Meredith Stiehm, creator of the Bruckheimer-produced "Cold Case," will write a pilot script, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"Cocaine Cowboys" will be set in Miami in the early '80s, when an influx of cocaine from Colombia turned the city into a mecca for drug traffickers and helped burnish Miami's image as a hedonistic playground. The documentary's producers are working with Bruckheimer's team on the project.

The show is the first for Bruckheimer at HBO. His other series -- which include the "CSI" franchise and "Without a Trace" -- have all aired on broadcast networks. He does have a pilot in development at TNT.

It's also part of a wave of development at HBO. The cable channel, which is in the midst of refreshing its original-series lineup, has picked up three new comedy series in the past week and has a half-dozen other pilots under consideration.