Podcast: David Simon, A.C. Thompson Talk About Fictionalizing a Real Life Investigation

Podcast

Podcast: David Simon, A.C. Thompson Talk About Fictionalizing a Real Life Investigation

Oct. 5, 2012, 10:07 a.m. EDT

David Simon, the creator of The Wire, talks at the ProPublica event about turning real life into reel life on Sept. 18, 2012, at New York University. (Erin Lee for ProPublica)

On Sept. 18, David Simon and his Treme co-creater/executive producer Eric Overmyer joined our A.C. Thompson and New York University's Joe Pichirallo for a conversation about how they turned Thompson's investigative work into a story line for the new season of the HBO show.

We excerpted the talk for this podcast. The group discussed how Simon and Overmyer first met Thompson over dinner, why they modeled a new cast member after Thompson but didn't use his name for the character, how it's difficult to assign motivation to a real-life person and how Thompson helped the creative duo keep the "L. P. Everett" character honest. They also veered off on riffs about "the copy desk nightmare" and their hardcore/metal musical choices.

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