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Screenwriter and blogger David Mills dies at age 48

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Screenwriter and blogger David Mills dies at age 48
Screenwriter and blogger David Mills dies at age 48

HBO has confirmed that a Glendale-based screenwriter for an upcoming TV series about New Orleans died Tuesday at age 48. David Mills won awards for his work — and developed another fan base with a popular blog.

His name usually flashed by quickly on the small screen. But in the last 15 years, David Mills’ name bookended TV’s top shelf: “ER,” "Homicide: Life on the Street,” "NYPD Blue,” “Kingpin” and “The Wire.”

Mills won an Emmy for his work on HBO’s miniseries “The Corner,” and a Writers Guild award for an episode of “Homicide.” He was working with the creator of those two series, David Simon, on “Treme,” an upcoming HBO drama set in New Orleans.

Like Simon — his college friend from the University of Maryland — Mills was a veteran newspaper journalist who redirected his storytelling skills toward screenwriting. He also held forth on pop culture, especially his love of 1970s funk, on his wickedly funny blog “Undercover Black Man.” David Mills applied his newfound passion about the various musical styles of New Orleans to “Treme,” scheduled to debut on April 11.

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He died of an apparent brain aneurysm in the Crescent City.

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