Bruno Heller

Carl Bruno Heller
Heller in February 2013
Born	June, 1960 London, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Screenwriter, producer, director
Years active	1994–present
Spouse(s)	Miranda Phillips Cowley (m. 1993)[1]
Children	2 sons

Carl Bruno Heller (born June, 1960) is an English screenwriter and creator of the HBO television series Rome and CBS television series The Mentalist. Son of Hollywood screenwriter Lukas Heller, he is brother to columnist and Notes on a Scandal author Zoë Heller. He is currently creating a TV series based on the Batman character James Gordon called Gotham for Fox Broadcasting Company.

Early life and family

Growing up in London, England, he internalised both the fascination and dread of writing. His father, Lukas Heller, was a German Jewish immigrant and screenwriter responsible for Hollywood films like Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. His mother was Caroline (née Carter). She was an English Quaker and was instrumental in keeping up the Labour Party's "Save London Transport Campaign". Heller credits his father's success with likely keeping him from becoming a writer for many years. Bruno has three siblings. His sister Zoë Heller, columnist and writer, has published three novels, including Notes on a Scandal.

Early career

Heller graduated from the University of Sussex in Brighton. He was a union soundman working in England in the 1980s when film sets were staunchly hierarchical. While working as a soundman on a series of films about England's infamous Miners' Strike, Heller met well-regarded Portuguese director Eduardo Guedes. The two teamed up on what would become Heller's first writing credit, the 1994 film Pax starring Amanda Plummer. (“Pax" is the acronym for the Portuguese epitaph on gravestones.)

Career

He left England for New York, where he would meet his wife, Miranda, at a disco. After five years in the city, Heller moved to Los Angeles, where he got work on various television dramas including two projects for the USA Network: Touching Evil and The Huntress. But his breakthrough came with Rome, which he co-created. After the cancellation of that series for its high costs, Heller created The Mentalist. In September 2012, it was reported that Heller sold a legal drama named The Advocates to CBS, which was written and executive produced by him,^[2] but the project finally got a pass in May 2013. He is currently creating a TV series based on the Batman character James Gordon called Gotham for Fox Broadcasting Company.

Rome

He is probably most known for his work on the television series Rome, co-produced by HBO and the BBC, which Heller created along with John Milius and William J. MacDonald. In addition to creating the series, Heller was also an executive producer and head writer, penning a total of 11 episodes for the series, including the pilot episode and the series finale.

The series primarily chronicles the lives and deeds of the rich, powerful, and "historically significant", yet it also focuses on the lives, fortunes, families, and acquaintances of two common men: Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, two Roman soldiers mentioned historically in Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico. The fictionalised Vorenus and Pullo manage to witness and often influence many of the historical events presented in the series.

Rome episodes written by Heller

Season 1

• "The Stolen Eagle" (pilot)
• "How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic"
• "An Owl in a Thornbush"
• "Stealing from Saturn"
• "The Ram has Touched the Wall"
• "Egeria" (with John Milius)
• "The Spoils"
• "Kalends of February" (season finale)

Season 2

• "Passover"
• "Son of Hades"
• "De Patre Vostro (About Your Father)" (series finale)

The intertitle for season 1.

The Mentalist

In 2008, Heller created the hit CBS television series, The Mentalist, with his production company Primrose Hill Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. On 7 January 2009, the show won the award for "Favorite New TV Drama" at the 35th People's Choice Awards and since then, the star, Simon Baker has received several nominations for his portrayal of the lead character, Patrick Jane.

The Mentalist follows Patrick Jane, an independent consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) based in Sacramento, California. He has a remarkable track record for solving serious crimes by using his amazing skills of observation. Jane also makes frequent use of his mentalist abilities and his semi-celebrity past as a psychic medium using paranormal abilities he now admits he feigned. He abandoned his pretense out of remorse when his attention-seeking behaviour attracted the attention of a serial killer named Red John who killed his wife and daughter.

The Mentalist episodes written by Heller

Season 1

• "Pilot"
• "Red Hair and Silver Tape"
• "Red John's Friends"
• "Carnelian, Inc."
• "Red John's Footsteps" (season finale)

Season 2

• "Redemption"
• "Black Gold and Red Blood"
• "Code Red"
• "Red Sky in the Morning" (season finale)

Season 3

• "Red Sky at Night"
• "Red Moon"
• "Strawberries and Cream (Part 2)" (season finale)

Season 4

• "Scarlet Ribbons"
• "Cheap Burgundy" (writer/director)
• "The Crimson Hat" (season finale)

Season 5

• "The Crimson Ticket"
• "Red John's Rules" (season finale)

Season 6

• "The Desert Rose"
• "Red John"

Personal life

In 1993, he married Miranda Phillips Cowley,^[1] a senior vice president at HBO. Together, they have two sons and currently reside in Los Angeles, California.^{[citation needed]} He also has a house in Cape Cod.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Bernhard, Lisa. "‘Mentalist’ Is a Hit, but Who Can See Into Its Future?", The New York Times, 28 November 2008
• Bruno Heller at the Internet Movie Database