Sag Harbor Writer & Producer Won't Let Obstacles Break His Stride

[caption id="attachment_49552" align="alignnone" width="800"] Simone Kessell (right) as Ahinoam, queen of Israel and Saul’s wife in “Of Kings and Prophets.”[/caption]

By Dawn Watson

Chris Brancato didn’t get to where he is by letting the Hollywood entertainment machine break his stride.

[caption id="attachment_49554" align="alignleft" width="300"] Chris Brancato and family at home in Sag Harbor.[/caption]

The writer and producer, who got his start in the industry as Warren Beatty’s assistant on the film “Ishtar” in the mid-80s, has seen a decent amount of success in his career. He’s written or produced more than 200 hours of television and a handful of movies, he’s a Peabody- and Writer’s Guild Award winner and Golden Globe nominee, and has also been the President of the Writers Guild Foundation.

But, like most industry veterans, he’s also had his share of disappointments. Most recently, that includes the quick cancellation of the television series “Of Kings and Prophets,” of which he was executive producer and showrunner.

“I’m very used to the cutthroat world of network television,” he laughed last week during a pair of telephone interviews, before and after the cancellation, from his office at Sunset Gower Studios in Los Angeles.

The ABC television program had only aired a mere two episodes before the network pulled the plug. The news was not exactly a surprise—the show’s numbers weren’t as high as expected for a network program right out of the gate—but it certainly wasn’t welcome information either.

“The ratings were lower than we liked,” he says of the Biblical epic—penned by Sag Harbor’s own Bill Collage and his writing partner Adam Cooper, who also wrote the feature film “Allegiant” together. “But it’s not like somebody in my family died. It was a show, one I’m very proud of and that I think is a great story, but a show. You have to take it like it is.”

The hour-long drama, based on the ascension and reign of King David in 1000 BC, wasn’t necessarily doomed but it was given what Mr. Brancato jokingly refers to as “the ABC death slot” on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. It didn’t help that the Old Testament saga, which he calls “‘Game of Thrones’ set in Biblical times,” was quite a bit grittier and darker than standard network TV fare. Not exactly what the typical ABC audience is used to viewing, regardless of the late-night scheduling.

“It was more suited for cable,” says the producer and writer whose most recent television credit prior to “Of Kings and Prophets” was co-creator and executive producer of the first season of the hugely popular Netflix series “Narcos.” That series, now in its second season, is about the criminal exploits of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

[caption id="attachment_49553" align="alignleft" width="280"] Chris Brancato.[/caption]

Mr. Brancato doesn’t have any regrets for leaving the popular show in order to take the lead on one that was cancelled before it even got a chance to find its audience, he says, adding that he’s still credited as a consulting producer on the second season of “Narcos.” But, he does wish that the network had at least aired the third episode for “Of Kings and Prophets,” which was to have featured the legendary battle between David and Goliath, before shutting it down.

“I think that one would have drawn more viewers, so it’s a shame,” he says. “The truth is though that the results are totally out of your hands. At the end of the day, we did our best and it was really good. Now it’s time to move on.”

Next up for Mr. Brancato, who has a producing deal in place with ABC, is a story he’s writing on Mexican drug lord El Chapo.

“I went from drugs to the Bible and now back to drugs,” says the man who has worked on “X Files” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and executive produced the final season of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” “My normal cup of tea is crime drama.”

As he waits for his El Chapo project to get the green light, Mr. Brancato, who calls Sag Harbor a true refuge and creative font, is counting the days until he and his family get to spend some quality time back at their home on Widow Gavits Road this summer. It’s a place that he’s been heading to since he was a boy, and one that he says he hopes to make permanent one day in the future.

“It’s a vacation home for now but I fantasize about the time in which I leave LA and come out to stay full time,” he says. “There’s definitely the goal of planting roots there, that’s my game plan. Sag Harbor has always been meant to be the final destination.”