HBO, ‘Getting On’ Creators Team for Movie Inspired by Eric Williams Murder Case

HBO Films is looking to the story of Eric Williams for its next TV movie.

HBO has put into development Preserve, Protect, and Defend, a telepic based on Williams and his revenge murder plot against the Texas district attorneys who convicted him.

Getting On and Big Love creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer will team with Craig Zobel to pen the script, and will executive produce alongside Lisa Bellomo. The telepic hails from Olsen and Scheffer’s Anima Sola Productions banner, where Bellomo serves as senior vp production and development.

Read more HBO’s ‘Getting On’ Renewed for Third and Final Season

The drama tells the true story of a disgraced Texas justice of the peace, who enlisted the help of his wife to plot and murder the two district attorneys who prosecuted him, in an escalating avalanche of firearms.

Williams was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2013 slaying of a Texas D.A.’s wife. He was convicted of capital murder for the March death of Cynthia McLelland. Her husband, D.A. Mike McLelland, was also killed the same night while the couple was at home. Williams has been charged for the latter’s death as well as assistant D.A. Mark Hasse, who was killed when he walked to court in January 2013. 

Prosecutors said Williams targeted Mike McLelland and Hasse after they prosecuted him for burglary and theft in 2012, resulting in the loss of his job as a justice of the peace. Williams’ estranged wife, Kim Williams, is also charged with capital murder.

For Olsen and Scheffer, the pic continues the married couple’s relationship with HBO following the upcoming third and final season of Getting On and awards darling Big Love. They’re repped by CAA and Schreck Rose.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit

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