I recently had the chance to speak with playwright and screenwriter Robert Glaudini for the upcoming release Jack Goes Boating, which arrives on Blu-ray and DVD on January 18. While a majority of that interview centered on that wonderful indie movie, I also asked Glaudini if he has any other projects in the works. The writer revealed that he's developing a new TV series for HBO, entitled Upstate. He's collaborating with fellow playwright Brett C. Leonard on the project, which is in very early stages of development:

We're developing a series for HBO called Upstate. We're just at the beginning stages. We've made an agreement with HBO, but we're just now meeting with them to tell them the idea and all that stuff. We're at the beginning stages of doing the outline, and working with them a little bit on that, and then writing the pilot script. That's the next immediate project."

He went on to describe the series, which sounds unlike anything that is currently on TV. Upstate will revolve around a for-profit prison and the community that is built around it. Here's what he had to say about the story line:

Upstate is the story of the community that develops around a private prison, which is run for profit. In other words, the prison is built and as people work there and as the economy improves in that immediate area, a suburban community develops around this industry. It will not be an upstairs-downstairs story. The main characters are a correctional officer, his wife and his two kids. It will be about how the job impacts his family and other families in the community. We're kind of excited about it. We think it could make a great story."

This Upstate project will be quite a ways off from any sort of official announcement, since the pilot script hasn't been written yet. However, based off the very intriguing premise alone, this sounds like it could be a great fit for HBO.

We'll be sure to keep you posted with any further details on Upstate as soon as we have more information and keep an eye out for my full interview with Robert Glaudini in the very near future.