William F. Zorzi

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William F. Zorzi

Born
 United States
Occupation Journalist, Television Writer
Nationality American
Subjects Politics
Notable work(s) The Wire

William F. Zorzi is a journalist and screenwriter. He worked at The Baltimore Sun for almost twenty years and covered politics for the majority of his career. He has also written for the HBO TV series The Wire.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Journalism

He worked at The Baltimore Sun for almost twenty years and covered politics for the majority of his career.[1] He has also covered the courts and the crime beat.[1] As a reporter Zorzi has been described as tough and cranky and characteristically refused to accept free gifts (including food) from the politicians he was covering.[2] He wrote a weekly column called "The Political Game" for five years in the mid nineties.[1] He left reporting in 1998 and became The Sun's Weekend Metropolitan Editor.[1] He later became Assistant City Editor.[1]

[edit] Television

Zorzi left The Sun in 2002 to write a script for HBO.[1] The project was to be "about the volatile events surrounding a federal public housing desegregation case in Yonkers, NY."[1] It is still in production.[1]

Zorzi joined the writing staff of The Wire in 2004 for the shows third season when he was credited as a staff writer.[3] He had previously worked with show runner David Simon at The Sun.[2] He also had a brief cameo appearance in the 2002 episode "The Buys." Zorzi was brought in to ensure authenticity in the new political story line introduced in the season. Fellow writer George Pelecanos has commented that he knew that anything he wrote for the political story line would be extensively re-written by Simon and Zorzi.[2] Zorzi remained on the staff for the fourth season and he was credited as story editor.[4] For episode 4.07 "Unto Others" he co-wrote the story (with Ed Burns) and wrote the teleplay.[5][6]

Zorzi returned to work on The Wire's fifth season as part of the writing staff.[2] He also joined the cast as a fictionalized version of himself.[7]

[edit] Teaching

Following production of the fourth season Zorzi spent a year teaching Journalism at the Baltimore Freedom Academy, a public high school in the city.[1] He also helped the school to launch a newspaper.[1]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j William F. Zorzi biography. HBO (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-17.
  2. ^ a b c d Margaret Talbot (2007). Stealing life. The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2007-10-17.
  3. ^ The Wire season 3 crew. HBO (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-14.
  4. ^ The Wire season 4 crew. HBO (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-14.
  5. ^ Episode guide - episode 44 Unto Others. HBO (2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-01.
  6. ^ "Unto Others". Ed Burns, William F. Zorzi. The Wire. HBO. 2004-10-29. No. 07, season 4.
  7. ^ Character profile - Bill Zorzi. HBO (2008). Retrieved on 2008-01-07.