EXCLUSIVE: Crime Novel Made Famous By NJ Housewives Heads To TV, Writer Confirms
Jul. 28 2010, Published 9:31 a.m. ET
The book that sparked some major drama on the Real Housewives of New Jersey is being turned into a TV show, RadarOnline.com confirmed exclusively.
While there have been internet reports that something may be in the works, RadarOnline.com spoke to the author of Cop Without A Badge to get the scoop of what to expect. “Nothing is ever a done deal until the ink is dry on the contract, but there’s such a tremendous amount of interest that I think it's as close as you can come to saying it's a done deal,” Charles Kipps said. Kipps, whose TV credits include Law & Order, is developing the show with David Black (who worked on Miami Vice) and Wendy Kram (who was an executive producer on the Katie Holmes flick Mad Money).
The book was the center of the reality show’s controversial season one finale which resulted in an angry showdown and a table getting flipped over. The women on the show used it as further evidence that castmate Danielle Staub was a negative presence with an alleged sordid past that included drugs, kidnapping and prostitution.
Though Kipps’ novel, which was written over a decade ago, enjoyed a rebirth thanks to the Bravo series, don’t expect to see any familiar faces pop up in the new show. Camoes will “probably not” happen he says.
As for Staub, who Kipps has not contacted about the show, any role she will play will be at a minimum since it will focus more on her ex-husband. “The Danielle Staub stuff is great, but the character of Kevin Maher Staub’s ex-husband is a very interesting, multi-leveled the character. The Danielle stuff in the book is only about 17 pages out of the 300-plus page book.”
Kipps found it entertaining that his words and portrayal of Staub in the book caused such a firestorm in the first place since he didn’t aim to antagonize her with his portrayal.
“If you read the book, yeah, she's a little wild in the book and she's promiscuous in the book, but as far as the other stuff you kind of get the impression that maybe she was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” he says in Staub’s defense.
“In other words, the book doesn't necessarily draw all the conclusions… she's much more of a sympathetic character in the book. She's not necessarily sympathetic, but she’s certainly not the villain in the book that she is on the show.”
Kipps adds that if they’re successful in setting up the show with a network, a pilot would be shot early next year and considered for fall 2011. Originally, there was interest in turning the book into a film with both Universal and Paramount having optioned it as a feature in the past according to Kipps.
His new novel Hell’s Kitchen Homicide is in bookstores now and his next book Crystal Death will be out September 15.