Showtime Sets Doc Slate With Projects From Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing & Matthew Heineman – TCA

Peter White

Showtime has set its latest documentary slate with projects from the likes of Jesus Camp directors Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, A Private War director Matthew Heineman, Homeland’s Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon, Generation Wealth director Lauren Greenfield and Dirty War director Rick Rowley.

The 2020 slate was revealed by Gary Levine, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks at the Winter TCA press tour.

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Grady and Ewing are making their first foray into episodic television with Love Fraud, which will launch at the Sundance Film Festival, the first time a TV series will run on day one of the festival. The project follows the search for one man, Richard Scott Smith, who over the past 20 years used the internet and his dubious charms to prey upon unsuspecting women in search of love – conning them out of their money and dignity. It will launch on May 8 and is directed and exec produced by Ewing and Grady with Amy Goodman Kass also exec producing.

The Trade is directed by Oscar-nominee Heineman. The four-part series, which will also premiere at Sundance, follows Central Americans on an odyssey to the United States while also delving into the shadow industries that prey on them at every step along the way. It will also shed light on the smugglers and traffickers who take advantage of the migrant’s vulnerability, and law enforcement pursuing them at the border. The Trade, which is exec produced by is executive produced by Heineman, Pagan Harleman and Joedan Okun, will air on March 6.

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As their drama series Homeland comes to an end this series, Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon have teamed up with director Greg Barker for The Longest War. The doc will unpack the human stories and drama behind America’s involvement since 9/11 in Afghanistan, now the longest war in U.S. history. It will feature first-hand witnesses including U.S. intelligence operatives, soldiers and their families, Afghan officials, journalists, top government and military officials. The doc will air on April 19, immediately following the penultimate episode of Homeland.

Dirty War director Rick Rowley has teamed with Taxi to the Dark Side director and Alex Gibney and The Looming Tower author Lawrence Wright on Kingdom of Silence. The film, which was previously known as House of Saud, is a political thriller examining the complex relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and how the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi amplified entanglements between the two countries. Gibney and Wright exec produce the doc, which will have a theatrical run before premiering on Showtime later this year.

Finally, The Kingmaker, the latest film from Generation Wealth director Lauren Greenfield, will air on February 28. The film, coming off the back of a theatrical run, explores the disturbing legacy of the Marcos regime in the Philippines, and chronicles Imelda’s present-day push to help her son, Bongbong, win the vice presidency. It is produced by Frank Evers and Lauren Greenfield of Evergreen Pictures with Julie Parker Benello, Dan Cogan, R.J. Cutler, Geralyn Dreyfous, Bill Haney, Lilly Hartley, Patricia Lambrecht, Nion McEvoy, Patty Quillin, Regina K. Scully and Jamie Wolf as exec producers.

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