During the latest episode of Hollywood Wayz podcast, Entourage creator Doug Ellin launched into a profanity-laced tirade against the producers of Billions who he claims iced him out of the series when it was picked up by Showtime.
According to Ellin, after Entourage fizzled out with a movie that nobody remembers, he went to work developing a show about hedge fund managers with a creative team he only refers to as “the guys behind Rounders.” As Dustin Rowles at Pajiba notes, that would be two of Billions‘ three creators, Brian Koppelman and David Levin. However, HBO passed on the series, which Ellin put on the shelf until two years later when Andrew Ross Sorkin (the third Billions creator) said he wanted to do a show about hedge funds, so Ellin introduced him to Koppelman and Levin.
While that teaming led to Billions becoming a hit for Showtime, Ellin claims that everyone involved essentially ghosted him, and he has some strong feelings about it. Via Pajiba:
“Now, I want everyone to be clear on this. I want nothing about this. I haven’t seen the show — maybe it’s great. I thought those guys were talented so it wouldn’t surprise me,” Ellin said on his podcast in response to this revelation. “But this was like kind of as low rent, lowlife s—t as can possibly be done … I want nothing out of this. I want the universe to take care of itself and burn them in f—-ing hell.”
Griping about getting the cold shoulder is starting to become a theme for Ellin. Back in April, he claimed that Entourage has been unfairly viewed through a “wave of righteous PC culture,” which he feels has negatively impacted his relationship with HBO. The network reportedly passed on a new pilot he made, and his attempt to reboot Entourage for a new generation has gone nowhere, which is probably for the best. The last season of that show made the final season of Game of Thrones Season 8 look like… well, the final season of Game of Thrones, but you get the picture.
