David Simon: “Comprehensive, Exhaustive… Interview”

In case you missed it, David Simon, the creator and executive producer of The Wire, referred his Twitter followers to my interview with him, writing:

“Even I can’t stand to hear myself this long, but Kary Antholis — the singular spark to my work at HBO who has now launched the new Crimestory venture — has delivered a comprehensive, exhaustive, four-part interview on a Baltimore scribbler’s origin story. I’m exhausted, anyway.”

As David said, we present my interview with him in four parts:

In part one we discuss David’s formative years as a storyteller and as a journalist.

In part two we explore David’s work as a crime reporter for The Baltimore Sun, his writing the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, and his transition to writing for television.

In part three, we cover David’s reporting for the book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner City Neighborhood and his experience producing the multiple Emmy Award-winning miniseries based on that book.

In part four, we talk about David’s creation of The Wire and some of the key themes explored in that series.