Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilate, the mini-series, with a screenplay by Kirk Ellis

Kirk Ellis is a two-time Emmy Award winner.

His screenplay is based upon two books on Pontius Pilate, whose rights are owned by Good Country Pictures. Ellis’ screenplay is for a 2-part, four hour TV movie Ellis originally developed with ABC and Lionsgate.

Ellis was described in Variety in 2001 as "becoming the go-to guy for small-screen epics." Of Pilate himself, Ellis says, "It's not that Pontius Pilate got a bad rap, but he was caught in the middle. This tale will be told from a Roman point of view, a historical and political perspective as opposed to the theological one we've seen in so many other movies.”

The Ellis screenplay is based upon these two highly acclaimed books on Pontius Pilate:

Pontius Pilate, by Ann Wroe, a well regarded British author, has written five books, including Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man (Cape, Random House, 1999). This was published in the U.S. as Pontius Pilate (Random House, 2000) which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize and the W.H. Smith award.

Critical Comment on Pontius Pilate:

“Compelling, eloquent and vivid...in a superb blend of scholarship and creativity, Wroe brings this elusive yet pivotal figure to life.” – The Boston Globe

“By turns enchanting, learned, urbane, nimble, touching, caustic, and playful...as a portrait of a flawed man caught up in the adventure of being good, it is both sobering and inspiring. As an indirect portrait of Jesus it is unique." – The Providence Journal

“Triumphant... it is Wroe’s achievement that her Pilate, cloaked in infamy, connects at every turn, in his humdrum humanity, with her readers.” - Cleveland Plain Dealer

Pontius Pilate, by Paul L. Maier, a well-known ancient history scholar and a professor of Ancient History. Paul L. Maier is a graduate of Harvard University, a Fulbright Scholar, and the author of 16 books and over 200 articles and reviews, as well as a frequent lecturer and talk-show guest.

Critical Praise of Maier's Pontius Pilate:

"Unique in biblical novels ... raises the genre of the historical novel to a plateau it has rarely reached." - The Chicago Daily News

"A serious historical study treated so well that it is difficult to drop the volume once begun" - The Boston Sunday Globe