Atmosphere Entertainment Developing Series ‘The 18th’ Inspired By Story Of Nebraskan Bootlegging Queen; Odessa A’zion To Star

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EXCLUSIVE: Mark and Dorothy Canton’s Atmosphere Entertainment has launched development on The 18th, a one-hour series inspired by the true story of Nebraska’s “Queen of the Bootleggers,” which has Odessa A’zion (Grand Army) set to star.The series set in the early 1900s will follow Louise Vinciquerra, a young Italian immigrant wife and mother who rose out of poverty to become the Bootlegging Queen of the American heartland.

Adored by her customers and hunted by the Feds, she conned and charmed her way onto the front pages for earning too much money, shooting too many husbands, seducing too many prohibition agents, and just being Too Much – all before she turned 25 years old.Shelley Eriksen (Private Eyes, The Order) created the series with Vinciquerra’s niece Stephanie Kurtzuba (The Irishman, Bad Education) and Lawrence Smith (The Wolf of Wall Street, The Comedian), drew on family lore, newspaper articles and research journals to write the pilot and will serve as showrunner.

Ericksen, Kurtzaba and Smith are developing the project as executive producers alongside Mark Canton (300, Power universe) and Dorothy Canton (Arthur the King, Power), with Timothy Christian, Rab Butler and Susan Haddix to serve as co-executive producers.“I’m thrilled to create and write a series that is rooted in a woman’s view of American history,” said Eriksen, “and especially in watching Louise break out of the violent and domestic world where most women were meant to live and die.

She’ll define who she is and defy what’s expected of her at every turn.”“Growing up, stories of my Aunt Louise epitomized the idea of a powerful woman,” said Kurtzaba. “I feel a sense of legacy in telling the story of how she survived and thrived during one of the most