Ben Affleck and his long time buddy Matt Damon have been given the green light to produce a pilot for their story, City on a Hill, for Showtime.

Affleck and Damon will executive produce the drama which sees Affleck team up with The Accountant director Gavin O’Connor once again as he takes the helm on the pilot. O’Connor will also serve as executive producer alongside Logan’s James Mangold and Memento’s Jennifer Todd.

City on a Hill
Credit: Miramax/Courtesy Neal Peters Collection

Based on an original idea by Affleck and Chuck MacLean (“Boston Strangler”), who wrote the script, “City on a Hill” is a fictional account of what was called the “Boston Miracle.” In the early ’90s, corruption and racism were the norm in Boston, until an African-American district attorney from Brooklyn arrives in the city, advocating change. He forms an unlikely alliance with a corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran who is invested in maintaining the status quo. The two take on a family of armoured car robbers in a case that eventually upends the city’s criminal justice system.

Jennifer Todd explained that “’City on a Hill’ is a gritty thriller about severe corruption and gangs, the type of series that takes you back and centres around the crime-riddled streets of Boston in the early 90s,”.

Gavin O’Connor has also expressed his awe at MacLean’s script “Chuck wrote a pressure-cooker of a script steeped in the tribal codes of a Shakespeare play — family, blood, betrayal, honour,”

O’Connor went on to state “His take on the ties that bind is handled with a deep honesty and insight. I see the show as a brawling thriller — and an intimate family drama — played out on the rough streets of Boston.”

When the pilot is expected to air or who will be starring in City on a Hill are yet to be disclosed to the public.