(2 November 2005 8:00 pm)

MUMBAI: HBO US has concluded an exclusive two-year television deal with Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball to develop and produce original programming for the network. In India Six feet Under airs on Zee cafe.

Ball’s first project under the agreement will be an hour-long series based on the Southern Vampire books of Charlaine Harris. HBO Entertainment president Carolyn Strauss says, “HBO and Alan Ball are battle-tested, a perfect creative fit. His new show promises to be every bit as original and provocative as Six Feet Under, which was a landmark series for the network.”

Ball says, “I am thrilled to be working with HBO again. I picked up Dead Until Dark, the first book of the Southern Vampire series, on impulse and could not put it down. The same was true of the remaining books. Charlaine Harris has created a rich world filled with unique characters, a world that's as terrifying as it is hilarious, as well as sexy, generous and profound. I'm humbled that she put her trust in me and I look forward to bringing her vision to television.”

The series will take place in the rural South, at a time when vampires have made their existence known to the world following the Japanese development of synthetic blood.