Taking Stock of a Spotlit Life: Winning Time's Max Borenstein's Spark is WB Yeats' "The Circus Animals' Desertion"

Showrunner, producer, and writer Max Borenstein (HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of te Lakers Dynasty) was always drawn to WB Yeats work, but one poem resonated with him above all the others. "The Circus Animals' Desertion," one of Yeates' final published works in his lifetime, is about looking back on a lifetime of achievements, grappling with writer's block, and the perils of trying to match past successes in the final years of your life. Max found parallels to celebrity culture, our obsession with social media, and many other aspects of the modern world. His relationship with the poem has grown and changed as he's grappled with his own success and with recent bereavements and it's been a touchstone and source of inspiration throughout his career in entertainment.