A little while ago, Jason Schwartzman was having a crisis of confidence.

Sure, he’d enjoyed a fair bit of success as an actor (Funny People), screenwriter (The Darjeeling Limited) and musician (he was the drummer in Phantom Planet, whose song ‘California’ became famous as the theme tune from The O.C.).

But he was feeling stressed and finding it hard to get hold of material that meant something to him.

Sharing his woes with a friend, the friend asked what kind of role Schwartzman really wanted to play. And the answer was automatic: a private detective.

Not long afterwards, Schwartzman was able to organise a meeting with Jonathan Ames, the New York writer he describes as “my favourite living novelist”.

The meeting was meant to be about a movie based on Ames’ book Wake Up Sir, but over the course of their five-hour conversation the topic turned to a project Ames was developing with HBO – an adaptation of a short story about a New York writer who, heartbroken and confused after a bad break-up, decides to try a new line of work...as a private eye.

“My favourite writer and my favourite character!” laughed Schwartzman.

“But I felt so conflicted because I didn’t want to say ‘Oh, can we talk about that too?’ We were there talking about Wake Up Sir and I didn’t want to be like the kid on Christmas morning who opens his present and then looks over to see what his brother’s opening and decides he wants that as well.”

However, Ames ended up sending Schwartzman both the original short story and his screenplay.

“And within one sentence I knew I had to do whatever it took to be a part of this,” said Schwartzman.

“I’m usually not that aggressive, especially when it comes to work. But I knew if I watched this with another actor in it, and I hadn’t done everything I could to be in it, I would feel bad for a very long time.”

And that brings us to Bored to Death, an eight-part series premiering soon on pay-TV station Showcase.

Penned by Ames, it’s a dry, witty comedy starring Schwartzman in the lead role of writer and amateur sleuth Jonathan Ames (yes, the author named the main character after himself), The Hangover’s Zach Galifianakis as his best friend, underachieving cartoonist Ray, and a marvellously funny Ted Danson as his boss, high-powered magazine publisher George.

Together, the trio traipse around New York, getting into scrapes and misadventures involving women, marijuana, chic new restaurants, boxing, snooty book critics, Russian mobsters, white wine and sperm donation...but mostly their own neuroses.

But how much of it is based on the exploits of the actual Ames? “He doesn’t make it easy by calling the main character Jonathan Ames!” agreed Schwartzman with a laugh.

“Jonathan Ames in Bored to Death is a combination of Jonathan’s real life and Jonathan’s imagined life. It’s a very personal character in very personal stories but it’s not 100 per cent true. But it all stems from things that are very real to him.

“In terms of what I bring to the character, I really can’t say anything other than I love what Jonathan does and I don’t want to blow it. I will say, though, that the real-life Jonathan isn’t as neurotic or manic as I portray him in the show!”

Bored to Death premieres 8.30pm Tuesday February 16 on Showcase (through Foxtel/Austar)