David Simon has signed with Gersh for representation, Variety has learned exclusively.
With his new representation, Simon has signed a two-year first-look deal with HBO as well as a premium script deal with Sony Pictures Television. Financial terms of the two deals were not disclosed.
The HBO deal keeps Simon in business with the premium cabler, which has served as his TV home for the better part of three decades. In his time working with the network, Simon has delivered the critically-acclaimed dramas “The Corner,” “The Wire,” “Generation Kill,” “Treme,” “The Deuce,” “The Plot Against America,” “Show Me a Hero,” and “We Own This City.”
“The Wire” is consistently named as one of the greatest TV shows ever made, with Variety recently including it on the list of the 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
Simon began his career as a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. In that time, he spent a year with homicide detectives from the Baltimore Police Department, which served as the basis for his book “Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.” The book then served as the basis for the hit NBC show “Homicide: Life on the Street,” on which Simon was both a writer and producer. The show ultimately ran for seven seasons and 122 episodes, earning four Emmy Awards in the process.
Simon also wrote the book “The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood,” which was then adapted into the HBO series “The Corner.” The show won three Emmys, including outstanding miniseries and outstanding writing for a miniseries.
Simon has also been honored with four Peabody Awards, the Writer’s Guild of America award for best dramatic series, and a MacArthur Foundation grant for his overall work in journalism and narrative television.