Surprise Tony-Winner Harvey Weinstein Milks 'Runway' and Broadway For Fun and Profit
Congratulations go out today (we think) to Harvey and Bob Weinstein, whose 2008 Mogul Comeback Tour finds them diversifying yet again en route to reclaiming some kind of surly, deep-pocketed mojo. It all starts on television, apparently, where the brothers plan to renew their old Miramax TV experiment with a full slate of new programming drawing on the success of Project Runway. One show, the late Anthony Minghella's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, has already found traction at HBO; the rest, however, comprises a mixed bag ranging from retreads to stillbirths — and that's before we even get to their plans for Broadway:
[T]he company is also developing its 2007 theatrical The Nanny Diaries as a half-hour multicamera sitcom for Lifetime. It's actually a second attempt by the Weinsteins at turning the popular series of books into a TV show; Miramax TV was involved in an earlier Nanny Diaries project at CBS. New version is in development at Lifetime, which is looking for a writer. ... The company is also developing a new take on the 1980s franchise Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, along with 2929 Prods.
We have high hopes for the latter, which we presume will eventually make its synergistic way around to Harvey's own Manhattan pad while he's feverishly working out his planned Broadway adaptation of... Finding Neverland? And The Wall? Like Pink Floyd's The Wall? Indeed — but it's just business as usual for the silent partner in a bunch of stage successes:
Because Weinstein's involvement in theatrical projects has been as a supporting producer and investor, his exploits have largely remained under the radar — so much so that some in the entertainment industry may have been surprised to see the producer among those onstage collecting trophies at the Tonys on Sunday.
Wait — Harvey Weinstein won a Tony? Harvey!! And here we'd thought all this time you had just gotten into non-profits! Why don't you ever tell us these things?
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