The film will also follow local citizens and key figures like Mayor Cory Booker, real estate developers to ex-gang members — as they try to remake the city, working to stamp out violence, poverty and corruption and make improvements in housing, employment and education.

Whitaker, the Oscar-winning star of “The Last King of Scotland,” will serve as an executive producer with the series’ directors, Marc Levin (“Slam”) and Mark Benjamin (“The Last Party”), according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The series, which will take place over the span of about a year so viewers can see whether things change, is scheduled to debut with six half-hour episodes in the third quarter of 2009.

Sundance executive vp/GM Laura Michalchyshyn said Whitaker is a “huge supporter of this project and of Newark,” but that it was too early to determine if he might provide voice-over for the series.

SOURCE: EURWeb.com