Editing The Sopranos (section)

===Conception===
[[File:David Chase 2015.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|David Chase, creator of ''The Sopranos'', in 2015]]
[[David Chase]] had worked as a television writer and producer for more than 20 years before creating ''The Sopranos''.<ref name="chaseHBO">{{cite web |url=http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/cast/crew/david_chase.shtml |title=David Chase profile at HBO.com |access-date=November 14, 2007 |publisher=[[HBO]] |archive-date=February 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219201622/http://www.hbo.com/the-sopranos/cast-and-crew |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="vanity"/> He had been employed as a staff writer or producer for several television series, including ''[[Kolchak: The Night Stalker]]'', ''[[Switch (American TV series)|Switch]]'', ''[[The Rockford Files]]'', ''[[I'll Fly Away (TV series)|I'll Fly Away]]'', and ''[[Northern Exposure]]''.<ref name="fortwave">{{cite web |url=http://www.fortwaynereader.com/story.php?uid=674 |title=The Sopranos – "Oh Poor You!" |last=Ehrmann |first=Bert |date=March 20, 2006 |access-date=September 22, 2007 |work=Fort Wayne Reader |archive-date=March 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304094453/http://www.fortwaynereader.com/story.php?uid=674 |url-status=live }}</ref> He had also co-created the series ''[[Almost Grown (television show)|Almost Grown]]'' in 1988.<ref name="wgafontana">{{cite web |url=http://www.wga.org/writtenby/writtenbysub.aspx?id=2354 |title=Wiseguys: A conversation between David Chase and Tom Fontana. |last=Lee |first=Mark |date=May 2007 |access-date=November 14, 2007 |publisher=Writers Guild of America, west |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071116222056/http://www.wga.org/writtenby/writtenbysub.aspx?id=2354 |archive-date=November 16, 2007}}</ref><ref name="eagle">
{{cite news |last=Baker |first=Kathryn |title=Almost Grown: tells story of growing up |pages=9A |newspaper=Wichita Eagle |date=November 23, 1988}}</ref> He made his television directorial debut in 1986 with the "Enough Rope for Two" episode of ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985 TV series)|Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]''. He also directed episodes of ''Almost Grown'' and ''I'll Fly Away'' in 1988 and 1992, respectively. In 1996, he wrote and directed the television film ''The Rockford Files: Punishment and Crime''. He served as showrunner for ''I'll Fly Away'' and ''Northern Exposure'' in the 1990s. Chase won his first Emmy Award in 1978 for his work on ''The Rockford Files'' (shared with fellow producers) and his second for writing the 1980 television film ''Off the Minnesota Strip''.<ref name="familyman">{{cite web |url=http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=37319 |title=Family Man |last=Oxfeld |first=Jesse |year=2002 |access-date=September 22, 2007 |work=Stanford Magazine |archive-date=January 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127093946/http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=37319 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="chasehollywood">{{cite news |url=http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/David_Chase/1115964 |title=David Chase at Hollywood.com |work=Hollywood.com |access-date=November 14, 2007 |archive-date=December 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121206013525/http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/1115964/David_Chase |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1996, he was a coveted showrunner.<ref name="baldwininterview"/>
{{Quote box|align=right|width=30%|quote=I want to tell a story about this particular man. I want to tell the story about the reality of being a mobster—or what I perceive to be the reality of life in organized crime. They aren't shooting each other every day. They sit around eating baked ziti and betting and figuring out who owes who money. Occasionally, violence breaks out—more often than it does in the banking world, perhaps.|source=—David Chase, creator and showrunner of ''The Sopranos''<ref name="Salon"/>}}
The story of ''The Sopranos'' was initially conceived as a feature film about "a mobster in therapy having problems with his mother".<ref name="wgafontana"/> Chase got some input from his manager [[Lloyd Braun (media executive)|Lloyd Braun]] and decided to adapt it into a television series.<ref name="wgafontana"/> He signed a development deal in 1995 with production company Brillstein-Grey and wrote the original pilot script.<ref name="vanity"/><ref name="familyman"/><ref name="pilotinterview">{{cite video |people=[[David Chase|Chase, David]]; [[Peter Bogdanovich|Bogdanovich, Peter]] |title=The Sopranos – The Complete First Season: David Chase interview |medium=DVD |publisher=HBO |date=1999}}</ref> He drew heavily from his personal life and his experiences growing up in an Italian-American family in New Jersey, and has stated that he tried to apply his own "family dynamic to mobsters".<ref name="Salon">{{cite news |url=http://www.salon.com/ent/int/1999/01/20int.html/ |title=Chasing TV |date=January 20, 1999 |last=Dougherty |first=Robin |work=[[Salon.com]] |access-date=December 6, 2013 |archive-date=September 22, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090922181315/http://www.salon.com/ent/int/1999/01/20int.html |url-status=live }}</ref> For instance, the tumultuous relationship between series protagonist [[Tony Soprano]] and his mother [[Livia Soprano|Livia]] is partially based on Chase's relationship with his own mother.<ref name="Salon"/> He was also in psychotherapy at the time and modeled the character of [[Jennifer Melfi]] after his own psychiatrist.<ref name="chaseRS">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9448169/sopranos_creator_shoots_straight |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081108023127/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9448169/sopranos_creator_shoots_straight |archive-date=November 8, 2008 |title="Sopranos" Creator Shoots Straight |last=Dana |first=Will |date=March 10, 2006 |magazine=Rolling Stone |url-status=dead |access-date=December 6, 2013}}</ref>

Chase had been fascinated by organized crime and the [[American Mafia|mafia]] from an early age, witnessing such people growing up. He also was raised on classic gangster films such as ''[[The Public Enemy]]'' and the crime series ''[[The Untouchables (1959 TV series)|The Untouchables]]''. The series is partly inspired by the [[Richard Boiardo]] family, a prominent New Jersey organized crime family when Chase was growing up, and partly on New Jersey's [[DeCavalcante family]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/383832,CST-CONT-sopranos13.article |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516045310/http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/383832%2CCST-CONT-sopranos13.article |archive-date=May 16, 2007 |title=Da Jersey boys who inspired The Sopranos |date=May 13, 2007 |first=Steven |last=Malanga |work=Chicago Sun-Times |url-status=dead}}</ref> He has mentioned American playwrights [[Arthur Miller]] and [[Tennessee Williams]] as influences on the show's writing, and Italian director [[Federico Fellini]] as an important influence on the show's cinematic style.<ref name="baldwininterview"/><ref name="littleton">{{cite news |url=https://variety.com/2008/tv/news/the-sopranos-da-20855/ |title="The Sopranos": David Chase fesses up |last=Levine |first=Stuart |work=Variety |date=April 23, 2008 |access-date=November 23, 2008 |archive-date=December 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216131851/http://variety.com/2008/tv/news/the-sopranos-da-20855/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Martin|2007|p=160}}
The series was named after high school friends of his.<ref name="chaseHBO"/><ref name="chaseRS"/>
{{Quote box
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|quote=I said to myself, this show is about a guy who's turning 40. He's inherited a business from his dad. He's trying to bring it into the modern age. He's got all the responsibilities that go along with that. He's got an overbearing mom that he's still trying to get out from under. Although he loves his wife, he's had an affair. He's got two teenage kids, and he's dealing with the realities of what that is. He's anxious; he's depressed; he starts to see a therapist because he's searching for the meaning of his own life. I thought: the only difference between him and everybody I know is he's the Don of New Jersey.|source=—[[Chris Albrecht]], president of HBO Original Programming, 1995–2002.<ref name="vanity"/><ref name="Chris Albrecht: A former standup comic found his true calling: turning HBO into an Emmy magnet">{{cite web |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/chris-albrecht/83806 |title=Chris Albrecht: A former standup comic found his true calling: turning HBO into an Emmy magnet |last=Topcik |first=Joel |date=October 22, 2006 |work=Broadcasting & Cable |access-date=August 17, 2011 |archive-date=December 11, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211121448/http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/chris-albrecht/83806 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Chase and producer [[Brad Grey]] pitched ''The Sopranos'' to several networks; [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] showed interest but passed on it after Chase presented them the pilot script. According to Chase, CBS was "fine with all the break-ins and crime" but asked, "does he have to go to a psychiatrist?" They eventually pitched the show to [[Chris Albrecht]], president of HBO Original Programming, who decided to finance a pilot episode<ref name="vanity"/><ref name="familyman"/> which was shot in 1997.<ref>It was originally referred to as "Pilot" but was renamed "[[The Sopranos (episode)|The Sopranos]]" on the DVD release.</ref><ref name="hollywoodreporter">
{{cite news |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/features/e3i5caaebc3b67867e5395b97e39aa8026d |title=Sopranos signoff marks end of era |last=Flaherty |first=Michael |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=June 8, 2007 |access-date=November 11, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070921183451/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/features/e3i5caaebc3b67867e5395b97e39aa8026d |archive-date=September 21, 2007}}</ref>
Chase directed it himself. They finished the pilot and showed it to HBO executives, but the show was put on hold for several months.<ref name="vanity"/>

During this time, Chase, who had experienced frustration for a long period with being unable to break out of the TV genre and into film,<ref name="vanity"/> considered asking HBO for additional funding to shoot 45 more minutes of footage and release ''The Sopranos'' as a feature film. In December 1997, HBO decided to produce the series and ordered 12 more episodes for a 13-episode season.<ref name="vanity"/><ref name="familyman"/>{{sfn|Martin|2007|p=16}}
The show premiered on HBO on January 10, 1999, with the pilot, [[The Sopranos (The Sopranos episode)|"The Sopranos"]].

====''Baer v. Chase''====
[[North Jersey]] prosecutor and municipal judge Robert Baer filed a [[breach of contract]] lawsuit against Chase in [[Trenton, New Jersey]], federal court, alleging that he helped to create the show. Baer lost the suit, but he won a ruling that a jury should decide how much he should be paid for services as a location scout, researcher, and story consultant. Baer argued that he had introduced Chase to Tony Spirito, a restaurateur and gambler with alleged mob ties, and Thomas Koczur, a homicide detective for the [[Elizabeth, New Jersey]] police department. Chase had conducted interviews and tours with both, which strongly inspired some characters, settings, and storylines portrayed in ''The Sopranos''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2007/12/trial_hears_from_alleged_reall.html |title=Jury hears from alleged real-life model for Tony Soprano |work=New Jersey Star Ledger |author=Whelan, Jeff S. |date=December 14, 2007 |access-date=January 27, 2015 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304101846/http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2007/12/trial_hears_from_alleged_reall.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= Introduction to Business Law |chapter=Chapter 9: ''Baer v. Chase'' |publisher=Cengage Advantage Books |edition=4th |page=152 |author1=Beatty, Jeffrey F.|author2=Samuelson, Susan S.|isbn=978-1-133-18815-5|date=February 1, 2012 }}</ref> On December 19, 2007, a federal jury found against Baer, dismissing all of his claims.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/jury-rules-favor-sopranos-creator-wbna22330362 |title=Jury rules in favor of 'Sopranos' creator|via=The Associated Press|work=Today |date=December 19, 2007 |access-date=April 10, 2019 |archive-date=April 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411052719/https://www.today.com/popculture/jury-rules-favor-sopranos-creator-wbna22330362 |url-status=live }}</ref>