There are two reasons that Jeff Barr, an aspiring screenwriter, won't be able to bring himself to watch Sunday's debut of the HBO series "Rome."
The first reason is that Barr is among 18 writers, art and costume designers, researchers and a producer who allege that they were victims of a con involving a docudrama project called "Real Rome," which they mistakenly believed also was backed by HBO.
The second reason is that Barr, 24, who moved from Columbus, Ohio, for the "Real Rome" job, can't afford premium cable these days. Having never been paid for his work, he can barely make his rent.
Since discovering that "Real Rome" wasn't real, Barr said, "I feel like my dreams have been destroyed."
The person who destroyed those dreams, Barr and others alleged in interviews and in formal complaints to the state labor commissioner, is Wayne Heyman-Hanks, a 43-year-old self-proclaimed producer who also goes by the name Dewey Wayne Hanks Jr.
They said Hanks fabricated an elaborate deception that lured not just hopeful novices but also accomplished professionals.
"It seemed like a big deal," said John Vaughan, the former director of production for MCA Television, recalling how Hanks persuaded him to come aboard. Later, when Vaughan learned he'd been fooled, he said, "I couldn't believe it. I was staggering around in a daze."
"Real Rome" looked legit. Hanks housed his enterprise in a Studio City bungalow across from the CBS Studio Center soundstages on Radford Avenue. But it turns out that he never paid the rent. "Real Rome" employees were hired at competitive rates that seemed to imply Hanks had both cash and credibility. But not a single paycheck ever materialized.
Hanks denied that he presided over a hoax. In an interview, he also disputed the claim, made by several people, that he repeatedly told them that HBO planned to use "Real Rome" as an "appetite whetter" to drum up interest in its "Rome" series.
"This is a muddy, convoluted thing that's full of misinformation, gossip and character assassination," he said.
Hanks blamed the disintegration of "Real Rome" on a Danish screenwriter named Jesper Kodahl Andersen, who Hanks said had agreed to finance the project.
Andersen, who was supposed to direct "Real Rome," called that "a total fabrication." He said he too was Hanks' victim, having spent $60,000 of his savings to help pay expenses on "Real Rome" and two other projects.
