| Frank
Renzulli has been named
Co-Executive Producer for the
coming season of HBO’s hit
show, The Sopranos.
Renzulli was previously
supervising producer and a writer
for the one-year-old series. 
Last
year, Renzulli wrote or co-wrote
four of the original 12 episodes
and expects to write as many this
season. The espisodes authored by
Renzulli include "Legend of
Tennessee Moltisanti",
"A Hit is a Hit",
"Pax Soprana" and
"Noboby Knows
Anything". (EBOL editor's note:
"Nobody Knows Anything"
was nominated for an Emmy the
week of July 19.)
Born
and raised in East Boston’s
Maverick Housing Projects,
Renzulli, a graduate of East
Boston High School, moved to New
York City in the seventies. His
first speaking role came in Woody
Allen’s film, Broadway
Danny Rose. While in New
York, Renzulli began writing
plays.
In
1986, he moved to California
where he lived in a converted
garage as he pursued his acting
career. He landed several small
roles in television and films. In
1988 he befriended Steve Miner,
director of the television
program, The Wonder Years
as well as several feature films.
Miner and Renzulli worked on a
"network pitch" that
resulted in an ABC pilot about
East Boston called Maverick
Square, starring Michael
Chiklis.
Although
Maverick Square failed to
make the fall schedule, Renzulli
broke into network television as
a writer and received a two-year
development deal with Lorimar
Television (now part of Warner
Brothers Television). At the same
time, he wrote several episodes
of The Wonder Years and Pros
and Cons. In 1994, Renzulli
co-created the short lived Fox
series, The Great Defender, about
a neighborhood, blue-collar
lawyer, starring Michael Rispoli.
He later hooked up with another
Boston producer and writer, David
E. Kelley, and wrote a prison
pilot, Deer Island, for
David E. Kelley Productions.
Kelly has placed the program on
hold. Renzulli also wrote an
episode of The Practice
and played a recurring character
on the show, the Boston pimp
Kenny Tripp.
Renzulli’s
goal remains the same today as it
was yesterday: "To get my
own show on the air. And
hopefully get to do it in Boston
this time." His show, The
Great Defender was shot in
Toronto, a setting that doubled
for Boston.
Renzulli
lives in Toluca Lake, California
with his wife Jacquelyn (who is
also from East Boston) and their
four children, Vincenzo (7), Nico
(5), Francesca (3) and Gino (3
months).
Link to The
Sopranos' web site.
Posted 6/24/99
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reserved. CB Publishing and
Consulting, Inc.
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