‘City On A Hill’: Tom Fontana Tapped As Showrunner For Showtime Drama Series
Multiple Emmy winner Tom Fontana (The Wizard of Lies, Homicide: Life on the Street) has been named showrunner, executive producer and one of the writers on City on a Hill, Showtime’s upcoming drama series starring Kevin Bacon (The Following) and Aldis Hodge (Underground). The 10-episode series, executive produced by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Jennifer Todd, will premiere in 2019.
Created, written and executive produced by Chuck MacLean (Boston Strangler) and based on an original idea by Affleck, City on a Hill is set in early 1990s Boston when the city was rife with violent criminals emboldened by local law enforcement agencies in which corruption and racism was the norm, until it suddenly all changed. The drama is a fictional account of what was called the “Boston Miracle.” Driving that change is assistant district attorney Decourcy Ward (Hodge), who comes from Brooklyn and forms an unlikely alliance with a corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran, Jackie Rohr (Bacon). Together, they take on a family of armored car robbers from Charlestown in a case that grows to involve, and ultimately subvert, the entire criminal justice system of Boston.
City on a Hill, produced by Showtime, also stars Jonathan Tucker (Kingdom), Mark O’Brien (Halt and Catch Fire), Jill Hennessy (Crossing Jordan), Lauren E. Banks (Instinct), Amanda Clayton (Tyler Perry’s If Loving You Is Wrong), Kevin Chapman (Brotherhood) and Tony nominee Jere Shea (Passion), with Kevin Dunn (Veep) recurring.
Fontana has received 19 Emmy nominations over the course of his career, winning for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series in 1984 and 1986 for St. Elsewhere and in 1993 for Homicide. Most recently, Fontana received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Television Movie as executive producer for HBO’s The Wizard of Lies and this year, Paterno. Fontana’s series credits also include Oz, Borgia, Copper, The Philanthropist, The Bedford Diaries and The Jury (all of which he created), as well as the movies Strip Search and Judas.
In addition to Fontana and MacLean, the series is executive produced by Affleck, Damon and Todd for Pearl Street Films, as well as James Mangold and Barry Levinson. Michael Cuesta directed the pilot and executive produces. Bacon will serve as co-executive producer.