Bruno Heller

Bruno Heller
Born	1960 London, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Screenwriter
Spouse	Miranda Phillips Cowley
Children	2 sons

Bruno Heller (born 1960) is an English screenwriter. His most notable works are the television series Rome (HBO) and The Mentalist (CBS).

Life and career

Heller was born and raised in London, England with three siblings, one of whom is the novelist Zoë Heller. He is the son of Caroline (née Carter) and Lukas Heller, a successful screenwriter. His father was a German Jewish immigrant and his mother was English and a Quaker. His mother was instrumental in keeping up the Labour Party's "Save London Transport Campaign". Heller credits his father's success with likely keeping him from becoming a writer for many years.

Before venturing into his writing career, Bruno Heller graduated from The University of Sussex in Brighton, and spent years working various film jobs, eventually becoming a successful boom operator.

Heller would make his screenwriting debut on the 1994 Portuguese film PAX, which starred Amanda Plummer. Following the European release of PAX, Heller would move to Los Angeles in 1997. Bruno then began work on two television projects for the USA Network: Touching Evil and The Huntress, before co-creating the HBO series Rome. He is now working on the CBS program, The Mentalist, which he created, and is now writing.

Personal life

In 1993, Heller married Miranda Phillips Cowley, a Senior Vice President at HBO. Together they have two sons and currently reside in Los Angeles. He also has a house in Cape Cod.

Rome

Heller is probably most associated with the television series Rome, co-produced by HBO and the BBC, which Heller created along with John Milius and William J. MacDonald. In addition to creating the series, Heller is also an executive producer and head writer, penning a total of 11 episodes for the series, including the pilot episode.

The series primarily chronicles the lives and deeds of the rich, powerful, and "historically significant", yet it also focuses on the lives, fortunes, families, and acquaintances of two common men: Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, two Roman soldiers mentioned historically in Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico. The fictionalised Vorenus and Pullo manage to witness and often influence many of the historical events presented in the series.

Rome episodes

Episodes written by Heller:

Season 1

• "The Stolen Eagle" (pilot)
• "How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic"
• "An Owl in a Thornbush"
• "Stealing from Saturn"
• "The Ram has Touched the Wall"
• "Egeria" (with John Milius)
• "The Spoils"
• "Kalends of February"

Season 2

• "Passover"
• "Son of Hades"
• "These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero"
• "Testudo et Lepus (The Tortoise and the Hare)"
• "Heroes of the Republic"
• "Philippi"
• "Death Mask"
• "A Necessary Fiction"
• "Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus (No God Can Stop a Hungry Man)"
• "De Patre Vostro (About Your Father)"

The Mentalist

The intertitle for season 1.

In 2008, Heller created the hit CBS television series, The Mentalist. The show stars Simon Baker as Patrick Jane, the series protagonist and the titular mentalist of the show. He currently serves as executive producer and head writer for the show. On 7 January 2009, the show won the award for "Favorite New TV Drama" at the 35th People's Choice Awards and since then, Simon Baker has received several nominations for his portrayal of the lead character, Patrick Jane.

The Mentalist follows Simon Baker as Patrick Jane, an independent consultant for the now-defunct California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) based in Sacramento, California. He has a remarkable track record for solving serious crimes by using his amazing skills of observation. Jane also makes frequent use of his mentalist abilities and his semi-celebrity past as a psychic medium using paranormal abilities he now admits he feigned. He abandoned his pretense out of remorse when his attention-seeking behaviour attracted the attention of a serial killer who killed his wife and daughter.

The Mentalist episodes

Episodes written by Heller:

Season 1

• "Pilot"
• "Red Hair and Silver Tape"
• "Red John's Friends"
• "Carnelian, Inc."
• "Red John's Footsteps"

Season 2

• "Redemption"
• "Black Gold and Red Blood"
• "Code Red"
• "Red Sky in the Morning"

Season 3

• "Red Sky at Night"
• "Red Moon"
• "Strawberries and Cream (Part 2)"

Season 4

• "Scarlet Ribbons"
• "Cheap Burgundy"

The mentalist (season 4) red identiy))

External links

• Bernhard, Lisa. "‘Mentalist’ Is a Hit, but Who Can See Into Its Future?", The New York Times, 28 November 2008
• Bruno Heller at the Internet Movie Database