Scott Z. Burns Named ‘Vinyl’ Showrunner

Terence Winter, showrunner on HBO period drama Vinyl, has departed the program. Winter is a creator of the ambitious series, along with Mick Jagger, Martin Scorsese and Rich Cohen, which is set in early 1970s Manhattan at the dawn of punk, disco, and hip-hop.

HBO has tapped Scott Z. Burns to be executive producer and showrunner, and Max Borenstein to be executive producer.

Winter’s connection to HBO goes back many years.

“As we head into the second season of Vinyl, we have decided it is an appropriate time to make a change in the creative direction of the show,” said HBO in a statement. “We have enjoyed a longtime partnership with Terry Winter at HBO on projects from The Sopranos to Boardwalk Empire to Vinyl, and we look forward to our next collaboration with him.” 

Scorsese directed the two-hour pilot. HBO signed up for season two days after Vinyl’s Feb. 14 debut.

The season finale rolls April 17. Despite a mighty promotional push, ratings for Vinyl have been modest.

Burns and Borenstein come from the feature film side of the business. Burns wrote the screenplays for The Bourne Ultimatum, Contagion and other films, while Borenstein's movie projects include Godzilla.

Borenstein also adapted Minority Report into a TV series for Fox.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.