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Silver options 'Vanderbilt' for HBO
'Fortune's Children' follows fall of famous family
By SAM THIELMAN
Producer Joel Silver has optioned "Fortune's Children: The Fall of the
House of Vanderbilt," a history of the famous family's decline by
Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, for a possible series for HBO.
Silver and Jane Semel will exec produce the hourlong drama. Jim
Solomon will exec produce and write the script for "Fortune's
Children," which is in the script-development stage with the pay
cabler.
Project will depict the Vanderbilt family saga at the turn of the 20th
century as the clan grapples with a declining fortune, extravagances
and social-climbing instincts.
The 1989 book, "a ****trait gallery of extravagant crazies" in the
author's own words, follows the family for more than a century, from
the launch of patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt's first steamboat in
1810. Upon his death in 1877, Vanderbilt left his family $100 million,
which was ultimately squandered through his children's and
grandchildren's profligate lifestyle.
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