A University professor is getting the chance to write for one of TV’s most acclaimed shows, which depicts life in the Big Easy.
Screenwriting professor Mari Kornhauser will be the newest addition to the writing staff of “Treme” — HBO’s hit series about life in New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina.
Kornhauser said she will join the team of writers for the show’s second season in just a few days.
“I’m still so mind blown,” Kornhauser said. “It’s a great gift to not only be able to work with these guys I consider geniuses, but I also get to learn their processes.”
Kornhauser said she communicated frequently with Eric Overmyer and David Simon, the show’s co-creators, throughout the show’s first season.
“We were acquaintances, and we reconnected in New Orleans when they were filming the show,” she said. “We kept running into each other and eventually started a dialogue. He wanted some honest feedback about the show.”
Kornhauser said the idea for her to write for the show came during a brunch with Overmyer during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
At the end of the meal, Overmyer asked Kornhauser, who has professional experience in feature filmmaking, what she thought about writing for television.
“I asked him, ‘Do you mean for your show?'” Kornhauser said. “When he said yes, I responded ‘Hell yeah. Who wouldn’t?'”
Kornhauser said she submitted a writing sample but didn’t  expect to hear anything back.
“Everyone and their mother wanted to work for ‘Treme,'” she said. “I was just honored to be on the list.”
But in July, Kornhauser said she received a call from Nina Noble, one of the show’s executive producers, saying they were interested in having her on board.
Kornhauser is the third local writer and the first woman hired for the show.
“I think I’ll bring an interesting perspective,” she said. “I was here during Katrina, and my boyfriend is a cop.”
Kornhauser said she will work with a team of about seven writers throughout the season, and she is guaranteed credit for one episode’s teleplay.
While season one covered a lot of character introductions, New Orleans culture and music, Kornhauser said season two will branch into other areas. Kornhauser, whose contract with HBO runs through May, will not teach this semester but will return in the spring when she will both teach and continue writing for “Treme.”
Rick Moreland, English Department chair, said the experience will benefit both Kornhauser and the University.
“It’s a great opportunity for her and her students,” Moreland said.
“She’s going to be working for the best in the business, and she can bring that knowledge back to her students.”
According to Rick Blackwood, screenwriting professor, it’s not common for television shows to hire college professors.
“It’s completely unprecedented and tremendously exciting,” Blackwood said. “It shows the quality of people that teach here.”
Blackwood said Kornhauser will be a good fit for the show.
“She’s very talented, very imaginative and an outstanding writer,” he said.
Kornhauser said she has never written for television before, but she’s excited to learn.
“My objective is to write the best script I can write,” she said. “As a writer on ‘Treme,’ working with the best of the best on a show about my city, I really want to hit a home run out of the ballpark.”
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Contact Sarah Eddingon at [email protected]