THE GREAT GATSBY is Getting a Origin Story Series Called GATZ

Stampede has just hired Paul Shapiro as Head of Television and with him comes two new drama projects. One is called Witnesses and will be on Fox, the other is Gatz, which will premiere on YouTube Premium.

Gatz is said to be an origin story for The Great Gatsby that focuses on the academic theory that Jay Gatsby was a mixed-race man. Here’s the logline thanks to Deadline:

“Gatz is based on the academic theory that F. Scott Fitzgerald was writing about a mixed-race man in Jay Gatsby. The series is a retelling of the tale through that very lens, embracing the cultural aspects of the time during the height of the Harlem Renaissance.”

This could be interesting. SC Sansiveri is writing Gatz and serving as executive producer. Do you think it can be done? Are you interested in a Great Gatsby origin story?

The other project that Shapiro brought to Stampede is Witnesses, which is more of a mystery show and sounds really intriguing. The series will be written by Melissa Scrivner-Love, who will also executive produce the project along with Mark-Paul Gosselaar.

“Based on the French format, Witnesses follows Sandra Perkins, a 35-year-old (yet still rookie) detective in her first weeks back on the Lexington, Kentucky police force after a mysterious ten-year hiatus who finds herself working on the most horrific homicide the region has seen in over a decade. In order to end this killer’s spree, Sandra must seek answers from Helen Lane, retired Homicide Detective who should have been Sandra’s mentor, but who is actually the reason Sandra left the force years ago.”

Shapiro will serve as an executive producer on both projects, as will Greg Silverman.