'Madonnas of Echo Park' heads to HBO

Deadline.com reports that HBO is developing a drama series based on "The Madonnas Of Echo Park," the novel by Brando Skyhorse. Playwright Julia Cho is writing. The series "takes a look at the lives of a community in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in Los Angeles," the website says.

It explores the relationships -– romantic, professional, familial –- of the Latinos that have built the community over the years, and the hipsters who’re making their way in now, examining the complicated dynamic between the two as they struggle to build new lives for themselves in pursuit of the American dream. Kapital Entertainment’s Aaron Kaplan and British writer Kelly Marcel are executive producing, reuniting after their first collaboration on Terra Nova, which the two executive produced....For Cho, who will serve as co-executive producer, this marks a return to HBO, where she worked on "Big Love." Her TV credits also include a stint on "Fringe."

Skyhorse and his novel about growing up in Echo Park won the $8,000 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award last year.