TV gets its first 'illegal immigrant' series...

FX Developing Illegal Immigrant PI Drama

By NELLIE ANDREEVA
Thursday November 4, 2010 @ 1:43pm PDT

EXCLUSIVE: It is a series that would no doubt spark controversy. FX has put in development the first major U.S. series project centered on an illegal alien character, a drama from Changing Lanes writer Chap Taylor about an illegal Mexican immigrant working as a private investigator. TV and film director Rodrigo Garcia, himself is an immigrant born in Colombia, has come on board to direct and executive produce the project, described as "Traffic meets Chinatown." Also executive producing are Taylor, Dawn Parouse & Marti Noxon of Grady Twins and Garcia's frequent collaborator, producer Julie Lynn.

Once a staple on TV, the private eye genre has almost disappeared in the past decade or so. The networks have taken numerous stabs at launching a new PI series, including such high-profile recent efforts as ABC's Marlowe remake, NBC's Rockford Files reboot and HBO's noir comedy Bored to Death, which was just renewed for a third season. But Taylor says that most PI shows "have really focused on the style -- fedora, trench coat, etc. -- and not on the essence of what a PI is: a powerless individual sticking up for other people without power in a corrupt society." He points to Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe who lived in the fringe of Los Angeles at a time when the city was riddled with corruption. Taylor decided to look for a contemporary counterpart to Marlowe, asking himself: "Who today is on the outer fringes of Los Angeles but sees everything?" The answer -- an illegal immigrant from Mexico.

In addition to relying on his own sleuthing skills, by being an illigal immigrant, the PI on the show will be able to tap into a network of other immigrants. "It's an invisible network of people we don't pay attention to who see everything," Taylor said. "They take care of our kids, they mow our lawns, they deliver our food, they mop the floors at our offices, they park our cars. They know if we recycle, and they know if we are cheating on our wives." The PI drama will be dark and authentic, and Taylor stresses that this it not turn into "the immigrant of the week" story. "The theme is about helping the powerless in a corrupt society who can be from the immigrant or the Anglo community," he said, noting that a trophy wife in Beverly Hills who is completely dependent on her husband "is just a powerless as her cleaning lady." He added that the show won't be limited to Latino illegal immigrants only, as a plumber could be a professor from Poland and the bagger at the grocery story may be a philosophy major from Montreal.

The project is taking on the hot-button issue of illegal immigration, and Taylor is well aware that it would probably stir controversy and possible accusations that, with an illegal as the hero, the show glorifies people who are in this country illegally. But "in Los Angeles and in the U.S., people's lives are built on the labor of those immigrants," Taylor said. "Our job is to tell good stories as honestly as we possibly can. If everyone is mad at us, we've done our job." Garcia, son of Columbian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, directed the pilot for HBO's Big Love and is executive producing the network's drama series In Treatment, which he co-developed. Garcia, Taylor and Grady Twins are repped by WME.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/11/fx-deve ... -pi-drama/