Bruckheimer Empire To Expand

If you thought Anthony Zuiker was a busy man for creating two CSI shows and considering a third one, wait until you meet his boss, Jerry Bruckheimer.

"I'm switching gears here," Bruckheimer told USA Today reporter Bill Keveney, explaining he had to refocus to talk about his TV production company. "All weekend, we did a junket for Pirates of the Caribbean. I did about 120 interviews. And we were up almost half the night trying to do the sound for it. So, I'm (still) listening to cannons going off."

Bruckheimer talked to USA Today during the brief lull between promotion for Pirates and his upcoming film Bad Boys II, which will be released in only a few days time. Both films are expected to pull in well over a hundred million dollars each, yet Bruckheimer still finds it worth his while to produce seven TV shows for the 2003-2004 season. Perhaps this is because of the critical acclaim most of his shows get. "Knock on wood, they've been very kind to us. [With the blockbusters it's] the other way around. Some get nailed."

The newspaper profiled Bruckheimer to find out exactly how he managed to make each of his current shows such as the two CSIs and FBI show Without a Trace so successful. According to CSI executive producer Carol Mendelsohn, one of the reasons is the lush feel of the series, including stylish looks and well-chosen music: "During the first season of CSI, he said, 'When people are channel surfing, I want them to stop and say that's a Bruckheimer show'"

Another reason is that his shows are built on a unique concept that TV viewers haven't yet seen before, such as the world of forensic science on CSI, or the secret FBI unit in his upcoming WB show Fearless. "One of the things Jerry's company does phenomenally well is create a sense of place, to make sure you believe that Fearless is based on real units within the FBI," said WB vice president Jordan Levin. "They make you feel like a fly on the wall."

While most of Bruckheimer's current shows focus on crime and law enforcement, the producer is planning to expand to other genres in the future. Next season Fox will debut his drama series Skin, a soap opera dealing with the difficult love affair between the Jewish daughter of an adult film producer and the Latino son of a district attorney battling the porn industry. And Bruckheim's production partner Jonathan Littman revealed they even wanted to try their hand at sitcoms, in the form of a series centered around lawyer Furious George. "We want to be able to be a broad TV company, like MTM or Spelling. We don't want to be labeled in one category," Littman said.

More about the ever-expanding Bruckheimer universe, including more quotes from the man himself, can be found in the full article in USA Today.

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