Ben Affleck & Matt Damon Land Boston Crime Drama at Showtime

Showtime has greenlit a new one-hour drama pilot, City on a Hill, from executive producers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

Chuck MacLean (Boston Strangler) serves as writer for City on a Hill, and the drama is being directed and executive produced by Gavin O’Connor (The Accountant, Warrior). The project will also be executive produced by James Mangold (Logan, Walk The Line) and Jennifer Todd (Jason Bourne, Memento) for Pearl Street Films.

City on a Hill is based on an original idea by Affleck and MacLean. It is set in the early ’90s in Boston, providing a fictional account of what was called the “Boston Miracle.” At the center is an African-American District Attorney, who comes in from Brooklyn advocating change, and the unlikely alliance he forms with a corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran, who is invested in maintaining the status quo. Together, they take on a family of armored car robbers from Charlestown in a case that upends Boston’s city-wide criminal justice system.

“City on a Hill is a gritty thriller about severe corruption and gangs, the type of series that takes you back and centers on the crime-riddled streets of Boston in the early ’90s,” said Todd. “We are excited to be a part of this project with Showtime and to partner with Gavin again.”

O’Connor added, “Chuck wrote a pressure-cooker of a script steeped in the tribal codes of a Shakespeare play—family, blood, betrayal, honor. His take on the ties that bind is handled with a deep honesty and insight. I see the show as a brawling thriller—and an intimate family drama—played out on the rough streets of Boston.”