Exclusive: Swan Song, Robert McCammon’s bestselling post-apocalyptic novel, is getting the small-screen treatment. Monarch Media and Greg Nicotero and Brian Witten’s Monster Agency Productions are teaming on an action/genre series based on the horror novel.
In Swan Song, following the U.S. government’s nuclear showdown with an unprecedented malevolent enemy, America as it was is gone forever. Now the remaining citizens must fight to stay alive in a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies.
Longtime The Walking Dead executive producer/director Nicotero and Witten will executive produce through Monster Agency, and Steve Barnett, Alan Powell and Vicky Patel will executive produce through Monarch Media, along with McCammon. Brandi Hagedorn will co-produce. Nicotero will also direct the pilot. A search is underway for a writer.
“Being a longtime fan of Robert’s novels, his story of survival in a world forever...
In Swan Song, following the U.S. government’s nuclear showdown with an unprecedented malevolent enemy, America as it was is gone forever. Now the remaining citizens must fight to stay alive in a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies.
Longtime The Walking Dead executive producer/director Nicotero and Witten will executive produce through Monster Agency, and Steve Barnett, Alan Powell and Vicky Patel will executive produce through Monarch Media, along with McCammon. Brandi Hagedorn will co-produce. Nicotero will also direct the pilot. A search is underway for a writer.
“Being a longtime fan of Robert’s novels, his story of survival in a world forever...
- 1/19/2024
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
The Film Independent Screenwriting Lab is 25 years old. Can you believe it? It’s officially old enough to rent a car! And sure, hardshell clams and giant tortoises can live for centuries, but you don’t reach the quarter-century mark as a Hollywood talent incubator without substance, value and tangible success.
But more than that, this year’s cohort of freshly announced Screenwriting Lab Fellows are special. Why? Because! We’re in the midst of celebrating #AD30, aka the 30th anniversary of Film Independent’s Artist Development programs. And like its elder sibling Project Involve (which got the whole ball of wax rolling in ‘93), the Screenwriting Lab has been an essential industry resource, whether your looking to develop your own skills or tap new talent.
“We’re thrilled to support this exceptional group of filmmakers, who bring compassion, authenticity and curiosity to their work exploring unique communities and characters,” says Dea Vazquez,...
But more than that, this year’s cohort of freshly announced Screenwriting Lab Fellows are special. Why? Because! We’re in the midst of celebrating #AD30, aka the 30th anniversary of Film Independent’s Artist Development programs. And like its elder sibling Project Involve (which got the whole ball of wax rolling in ‘93), the Screenwriting Lab has been an essential industry resource, whether your looking to develop your own skills or tap new talent.
“We’re thrilled to support this exceptional group of filmmakers, who bring compassion, authenticity and curiosity to their work exploring unique communities and characters,” says Dea Vazquez,...
- 4/26/2023
- by Matt Warren
- Film Independent News & More
Exclusive: Film Independent on Wednesday named the eight screenwriters set for the 25th edition of their Screenwriting Lab. The latest cohort of the intensive program, designed to provide individualized story and career development for screenwriters with fiction feature screenplays, includes Bri Brooks, Karina Dandashi, Thais Drassinower, Chloé Hung, Adam Meeks, Nat Moonhill, Veronica Moonhill and Richard Van.
Film Independent also today named Dandashi as the recipient of their latest Mpac Hollywood Bureau Writing Fellowship Grant, who will receive $10,000 in recognition of her script, Out of Water.
Over the course of the Lab, Fellows will workshop their projects under the guidance of creative advisors Andrew Ahn, Javier Fuentes-León, Jeff Stockwell and Robin Swicord. Additional guest speakers and advisors will include Ruth Atkinson, Angela Cheng Caplan, Kd Dávila, Greta Fuentes, Jordan Hart, Eliza Hittman, Ana Leocha, Ilyse McKimmie, Lauren Mann, Kiva Reardon, Pamela Ribon and Ellen Shanman.
“In our 30th year of...
Film Independent also today named Dandashi as the recipient of their latest Mpac Hollywood Bureau Writing Fellowship Grant, who will receive $10,000 in recognition of her script, Out of Water.
Over the course of the Lab, Fellows will workshop their projects under the guidance of creative advisors Andrew Ahn, Javier Fuentes-León, Jeff Stockwell and Robin Swicord. Additional guest speakers and advisors will include Ruth Atkinson, Angela Cheng Caplan, Kd Dávila, Greta Fuentes, Jordan Hart, Eliza Hittman, Ana Leocha, Ilyse McKimmie, Lauren Mann, Kiva Reardon, Pamela Ribon and Ellen Shanman.
“In our 30th year of...
- 4/26/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Andy Fickman (One True Loves) is set to direct Shiver, a feature adaptation of the same-name novel by New York Times bestseller Maggie Stiefvater.
Related Story ‘John Wick’ Franchise Director Chad Stahelski On Permanently Retiring Keanu Reeves’ Hitman & Why Academy Must Add Stunts To Oscars Categories Related Story 'One True Loves' Helmer Andy Fickman To Direct & Produce Fish-Out-Of-Water Pic 'My Dad's A Famous Movie Star' Related Story Lauren Tom, Michael O'Keefe, Tom Everett Scott & More Join Simu Liu In Romance 'One True Loves'
Producer Addam Bramich (Russell Crowe’s Poker Face) optioned the book, published by Scholastic in 2009, which is the first in Stiefvater’s globally bestselling series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and spent more than 40 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. The film will follow Grace, who for years has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf — her wolf...
Related Story ‘John Wick’ Franchise Director Chad Stahelski On Permanently Retiring Keanu Reeves’ Hitman & Why Academy Must Add Stunts To Oscars Categories Related Story 'One True Loves' Helmer Andy Fickman To Direct & Produce Fish-Out-Of-Water Pic 'My Dad's A Famous Movie Star' Related Story Lauren Tom, Michael O'Keefe, Tom Everett Scott & More Join Simu Liu In Romance 'One True Loves'
Producer Addam Bramich (Russell Crowe’s Poker Face) optioned the book, published by Scholastic in 2009, which is the first in Stiefvater’s globally bestselling series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and spent more than 40 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. The film will follow Grace, who for years has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf — her wolf...
- 3/27/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
“Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane is developing a television adaptation of the seven-book graphic novel series “The Shrouded College” for Peacock.
MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door production company and UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, acquired the rights for “The Shrouded College” from authors Charles Soule and Will Sliney. Usg’s Creative Acquisitions and IP Management team, led by Jordan Moblo, alongside Fuzzy Door president Erica Huggins, were instrumental in securing the rights.
“The Shrouded College” series tells the stories of various characters enlisted to become secret agents fighting a supernatural cold war on the side of the Shrouded College, a down-and-out organization on the edge of destruction.
The show will be executive produced by Soule and Sliney alongside MacFarlane, Huggins, and Rachel Hargreaves-Heald for Fuzzy Door.
Also Read:
Seth MacFarlane Signs With WME
The first graphic novel in “The Shrouded College” universe, “Hell to Pay,” commenced publication from Image Comics...
MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door production company and UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, acquired the rights for “The Shrouded College” from authors Charles Soule and Will Sliney. Usg’s Creative Acquisitions and IP Management team, led by Jordan Moblo, alongside Fuzzy Door president Erica Huggins, were instrumental in securing the rights.
“The Shrouded College” series tells the stories of various characters enlisted to become secret agents fighting a supernatural cold war on the side of the Shrouded College, a down-and-out organization on the edge of destruction.
The show will be executive produced by Soule and Sliney alongside MacFarlane, Huggins, and Rachel Hargreaves-Heald for Fuzzy Door.
Also Read:
Seth MacFarlane Signs With WME
The first graphic novel in “The Shrouded College” universe, “Hell to Pay,” commenced publication from Image Comics...
- 2/17/2023
- by Lucas Manfredi
- The Wrap
Exclusive: Graphic novel series The Shrouded College is in the works as a TV series after Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door and UCP secured the rights. The project is set up at Peacock.
The Shrouded College series is an interconnected set of seven adventure-horror stories that will be published in comic and graphic novel formats over the next several years. Taken together, the series tells the stories of various characters enlisted to become secret agents fighting a supernatural cold war on the side of the Shrouded College, a down-and-out organization on the edge of destruction.
The first graphic novel in the series, Hell to Pay, was published by Image Comics in November 2022 and tthe second installment, The Bloody Dozen, will publish in late 2023.
The book series comes from Charles Soule and Will Sliney, who will exec produce the project alongside MacFarlane, Erica Huggins and Rachel Hargreaves-Heald for Fuzzy Door.
Soule...
The Shrouded College series is an interconnected set of seven adventure-horror stories that will be published in comic and graphic novel formats over the next several years. Taken together, the series tells the stories of various characters enlisted to become secret agents fighting a supernatural cold war on the side of the Shrouded College, a down-and-out organization on the edge of destruction.
The first graphic novel in the series, Hell to Pay, was published by Image Comics in November 2022 and tthe second installment, The Bloody Dozen, will publish in late 2023.
The book series comes from Charles Soule and Will Sliney, who will exec produce the project alongside MacFarlane, Erica Huggins and Rachel Hargreaves-Heald for Fuzzy Door.
Soule...
- 2/17/2023
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Independent studio wiip has preemptively acquired An Honest Man, an upcoming novel by Michael Koryta, to develop as a television drama series, with Koryta attached to pen the adaptation.
An Honest Man tells the story of Israel Pike, a man just released from prison for killing his own father, who returns to his ancestral island home in northern Maine and quickly becomes the primary suspect when seven men, including two Senate rivals and the prosecutor who sent Pike to prison, are found dead aboard a yacht drifting offshore. Lt. Jenn Salazar of the Maine State Police takes the lead in the investigation on Salvation Point Island, operating with secrets of her own to protect.
The novel will be published by Mulholland Books July 25, 2023.
wiip’s Paul Lee, Mark Roybal and Nate Winslow will executive produce alongside Koryta.
During his tenure at 20th Century Fox, Roybal acquired Koryta’s Those Who Wish Me Dead...
An Honest Man tells the story of Israel Pike, a man just released from prison for killing his own father, who returns to his ancestral island home in northern Maine and quickly becomes the primary suspect when seven men, including two Senate rivals and the prosecutor who sent Pike to prison, are found dead aboard a yacht drifting offshore. Lt. Jenn Salazar of the Maine State Police takes the lead in the investigation on Salvation Point Island, operating with secrets of her own to protect.
The novel will be published by Mulholland Books July 25, 2023.
wiip’s Paul Lee, Mark Roybal and Nate Winslow will executive produce alongside Koryta.
During his tenure at 20th Century Fox, Roybal acquired Koryta’s Those Who Wish Me Dead...
- 1/12/2023
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Peacock has given a series order to a horror thriller from executive producer James Wan and Yellowstone writer Ian McCulloch.
The untitled series is inspired by Robert McCammon’s 1988 novel Stinger. In development since March (and formerly titled Teacup), the series will follow a disparate group of people on a ranch who must come together in the face of a mysterious threat.
E.L. Katz (The Haunting of Bly Manor) is set to direct the first episode and is among the show’s executive producers. Wan’s Atomic Monster company and Universal Studio Group’s UCP are producing.
“We are so excited for this adrenalized thriller about a group of people overcoming adversity, that’s both entertaining and emotional,” said Lisa Katz, president scripted content at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “We know this upcoming drama will be in expert hands with James Wan, E.
Peacock has given a series order to a horror thriller from executive producer James Wan and Yellowstone writer Ian McCulloch.
The untitled series is inspired by Robert McCammon’s 1988 novel Stinger. In development since March (and formerly titled Teacup), the series will follow a disparate group of people on a ranch who must come together in the face of a mysterious threat.
E.L. Katz (The Haunting of Bly Manor) is set to direct the first episode and is among the show’s executive producers. Wan’s Atomic Monster company and Universal Studio Group’s UCP are producing.
“We are so excited for this adrenalized thriller about a group of people overcoming adversity, that’s both entertaining and emotional,” said Lisa Katz, president scripted content at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “We know this upcoming drama will be in expert hands with James Wan, E.
- 12/16/2022
- by Rick Porter
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Screen Gems is looking to reunite with its Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City helmer Johannes Roberts, as sources tell Deadline the studio has set him to direct Atomic Monster’s Border Patrol. James Wan & Michael Clear are producing, with Judson Scott executive producing for Wan’s Atomic Monster. Starlight Media’s Peter Luo and Nancy Xu are executive producing.
The studio acquired the spec script written by Noah Griffith and Daniel Stewart. It is being rewritten by Gregg Hurwitz and Philip Eisner. Plot details are being kept under wraps as the film is still in development.
Roberts has been a director on the rise since breaking out with his shark thriller 47 Meters Down, which overperformed at the box office on a low budget and put Roberts on the map. His work on that helped him land the rebooted Resident Evil pic, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.
The studio acquired the spec script written by Noah Griffith and Daniel Stewart. It is being rewritten by Gregg Hurwitz and Philip Eisner. Plot details are being kept under wraps as the film is still in development.
Roberts has been a director on the rise since breaking out with his shark thriller 47 Meters Down, which overperformed at the box office on a low budget and put Roberts on the map. His work on that helped him land the rebooted Resident Evil pic, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.
- 10/31/2022
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: In competition with multiple studio and streamers, 20th Century Studios has landed rights to Night of the Ghoul, an upcoming graphic novel by Eisner- and Harvey-winning author Scott Snyder and illustrator Francesco Francavilla. Set to direct is Rob Savage, with 21 Laps’ Shawn Levy, Dan Levine and Dan Cohen producing.
This reteams studio, director and producers of The Boogeyman, the adaptation of the Stephen King novel that 20th and Disney release next year. Snyder and Francavilla will be exec producers.
The story follows a father and son looking into the true story behind a long-lost horror film from the golden era of monster movies. But as they dig deeper, they risk unleashing the very thing the supposedly destroyed film had meant to keep hidden.
The first issue will be out in print from Darkhorse Comics on Wednesday.
In scare fare, 21 Laps is coming off the fourth season of Stranger Things,...
This reteams studio, director and producers of The Boogeyman, the adaptation of the Stephen King novel that 20th and Disney release next year. Snyder and Francavilla will be exec producers.
The story follows a father and son looking into the true story behind a long-lost horror film from the golden era of monster movies. But as they dig deeper, they risk unleashing the very thing the supposedly destroyed film had meant to keep hidden.
The first issue will be out in print from Darkhorse Comics on Wednesday.
In scare fare, 21 Laps is coming off the fourth season of Stranger Things,...
- 10/4/2022
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Amazon Studios has gotten its wish, picking up the rights to Eight Billion Genies, the comic book by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne.
No writer or filmmaker is attached yet, although Soule and Browne will act as executive producers.
Even without talent attachments, the deal is significant for the streamer as it involves not only feature films but series and more. The lofty mission for the property is for it to be the basis of an expansive cross-media universe, starting with a feature.
The comic, an eight-issue limited series that first hit stores in May, has a simple premise: What if every single person on the planet got a genie and one wish? Within seconds, the world is transformed forever, not into a paradise but into a collision of desires as varied as the humans who made them — from getting superpowers and seeing...
Amazon Studios has gotten its wish, picking up the rights to Eight Billion Genies, the comic book by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne.
No writer or filmmaker is attached yet, although Soule and Browne will act as executive producers.
Even without talent attachments, the deal is significant for the streamer as it involves not only feature films but series and more. The lofty mission for the property is for it to be the basis of an expansive cross-media universe, starting with a feature.
The comic, an eight-issue limited series that first hit stores in May, has a simple premise: What if every single person on the planet got a genie and one wish? Within seconds, the world is transformed forever, not into a paradise but into a collision of desires as varied as the humans who made them — from getting superpowers and seeing...
- 6/29/2022
- by Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: The story of The Lazy Susans is in the works for the screen. Teg+ has acquired the film and television rights to adapt the story of the unlikely rock band formed by five suburban Boston-area moms.
The Lazy Susans first caught Teg+’s attention following an article on the group last month in Boston Magazine. From there, the musical moms went on to an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. You can watch a video clip of their interview with Clarkson below.
The Lazy Susans got their start in 2020 in the midst of the Covid pandemic lockdown. The five working mothers between the ages of 45 and 55 — whose musical experience ranged from limited to nonexistent — decided it was their turn to form a band and signed up to perform at a local music festival. With six months to prep, the newly formed The Lazy Susans set out to learn a...
The Lazy Susans first caught Teg+’s attention following an article on the group last month in Boston Magazine. From there, the musical moms went on to an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. You can watch a video clip of their interview with Clarkson below.
The Lazy Susans got their start in 2020 in the midst of the Covid pandemic lockdown. The five working mothers between the ages of 45 and 55 — whose musical experience ranged from limited to nonexistent — decided it was their turn to form a band and signed up to perform at a local music festival. With six months to prep, the newly formed The Lazy Susans set out to learn a...
- 6/2/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Apple TV+ has handed a nine-episode series order to Dark Matter, an adaptation of Blake Crouch’s acclaimed sci-fi novel, with Joel Edgerton attached to star and executive produce and author Crouch to serve as writer and showrunner. Matt Tolmach (Jumanji franchise) also will executive produce and Sony Pictures Television will produce for Apple TV+.
The project has been in development at Apple since 2020.
2022 Apple TV+ Pilots & Series Orders
Hailed as one of the best sci-fi novels of the decade, Dark Matter is a story about the road not taken. The series will follow Jason Dessen, (played by Edgerton) a physicist, professor, and family man who — one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago — is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Wonder quickly turns to nightmare when he tries to return to his reality amid the multiverse of lives he could have lived. In this labyrinth of mind-bending realities,...
The project has been in development at Apple since 2020.
2022 Apple TV+ Pilots & Series Orders
Hailed as one of the best sci-fi novels of the decade, Dark Matter is a story about the road not taken. The series will follow Jason Dessen, (played by Edgerton) a physicist, professor, and family man who — one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago — is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Wonder quickly turns to nightmare when he tries to return to his reality amid the multiverse of lives he could have lived. In this labyrinth of mind-bending realities,...
- 3/29/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Joel Edgerton will star in a new “Dark Matter” series adaptation as a physicist who suddenly finds himself in an alternate version of his life, Apple TV+ announced on Tuesday. Blake Crouch will serve as writer and showrunner on the series, which is based on his 2016 novel. Matt Tolmach executive produces along with David Manpearl.
Crouch will write the pilot script and Louis Leterrier is set to direct the first four episodes of the nine-episode series.
Here’s the logline: “The series will follow Jason Dessen, a physicist, professor, and family man who — one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago — is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Wonder quickly turns to nightmare when he tries to return to his reality amid the multiverse of lives he could have lived. In this labyrinth of mind-bending realities, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to...
Crouch will write the pilot script and Louis Leterrier is set to direct the first four episodes of the nine-episode series.
Here’s the logline: “The series will follow Jason Dessen, a physicist, professor, and family man who — one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago — is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Wonder quickly turns to nightmare when he tries to return to his reality amid the multiverse of lives he could have lived. In this labyrinth of mind-bending realities, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to...
- 3/29/2022
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
Film Independent has set Lanre Olabisi (A Storybook Ending), Sari Arambulo (Family Style), Sanford Jenkins (Joy and Pain), Rob Connolly (Lavender Country), Elise H. Greven (Silent Spring) and Phumi Morare (There is Salt in the Water) as the participants and projects for its 2022 Screenwriting Lab/
All of of this year’s participants are from communities underrepresented in film and half the participants are women. Over the course of the intensive program, they will workshop their feature projects under the guidance of creative advisors Javier Fuentes-León, Pamela Ribon, Ellen Shanman, Robin Swicord, and Christopher Makoto Yogi. Additional guest speakers and advisors will include Ruth Atkinson, Alex Camilleri, Angela Cheng Caplan, Kd Davila, Matthew Dy, Greta Fuentes, Sam Intili, Amanda Marshall, Alex Moratto, Sheila Hanahan Taylor and Elliott Whitton.
Film Independent also announced today that the inaugural Hyde Park Entertainment & Warner Music Group Screenwriting Fellowship is being awarded to Arambulo, who will...
All of of this year’s participants are from communities underrepresented in film and half the participants are women. Over the course of the intensive program, they will workshop their feature projects under the guidance of creative advisors Javier Fuentes-León, Pamela Ribon, Ellen Shanman, Robin Swicord, and Christopher Makoto Yogi. Additional guest speakers and advisors will include Ruth Atkinson, Alex Camilleri, Angela Cheng Caplan, Kd Davila, Matthew Dy, Greta Fuentes, Sam Intili, Amanda Marshall, Alex Moratto, Sheila Hanahan Taylor and Elliott Whitton.
Film Independent also announced today that the inaugural Hyde Park Entertainment & Warner Music Group Screenwriting Fellowship is being awarded to Arambulo, who will...
- 3/18/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Amblin Partners has acquired the film rights to Upgrade, the upcoming sci-fi/thriller from bestselling author Blake Crouch. Crouch will adapt the screenplay and is also attached to exec produce. Sources say the auction was highly competitive with several other studios and streamers in the mix before Amblin ultimately won the bid.
The novel follows a brother and sister, both unwittingly enhanced with genetically engineered upgrades, who square off against each other in a dangerous battle of conflicting schemes to save humanity from itself. Upgrade will be published by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, on July 12. Jeb Brody, Amblin’s President of Production, and Lauren Abrahams, EVP of Production, will oversee for the studio.
Crouch is an international bestselling author whose work has been translated into forty languages and has sold millions of copies. Past screen adaptations of his work include Wayward Pines, which he executive...
The novel follows a brother and sister, both unwittingly enhanced with genetically engineered upgrades, who square off against each other in a dangerous battle of conflicting schemes to save humanity from itself. Upgrade will be published by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, on July 12. Jeb Brody, Amblin’s President of Production, and Lauren Abrahams, EVP of Production, will oversee for the studio.
Crouch is an international bestselling author whose work has been translated into forty languages and has sold millions of copies. Past screen adaptations of his work include Wayward Pines, which he executive...
- 2/10/2022
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Paramount Players has optioned eight novels from author Gregg Hurwitz’s “Marked Man” series of books, with plans to adapt them for a series of feature films.
The division of the ViacomCBS-owned studio, run by Jeremy Kramer, is eyeing lower budgets for the contemporary noir thrillers and specifically looking for diverse and perhaps first-time writers and directors to create the world.
Hurwitz is the bestselling author of “Orphan X” and will produce the films alongside Emmy winner Scott Frank, producer of Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit.” The latter brought the books to the studio. While not connected by a central character, Hurwitz’s novels are among the most praised of the pot-boiler genre — usually invoking heinous crimes or geopolitical intrigue. The film adaptations are said to be connected thematically.
Full titles being optioned include “Do No Harm,” “The Crime Writer,” “Trust No One,” “They’re Watching,” “You’re Next,” “The Survivor,...
The division of the ViacomCBS-owned studio, run by Jeremy Kramer, is eyeing lower budgets for the contemporary noir thrillers and specifically looking for diverse and perhaps first-time writers and directors to create the world.
Hurwitz is the bestselling author of “Orphan X” and will produce the films alongside Emmy winner Scott Frank, producer of Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit.” The latter brought the books to the studio. While not connected by a central character, Hurwitz’s novels are among the most praised of the pot-boiler genre — usually invoking heinous crimes or geopolitical intrigue. The film adaptations are said to be connected thematically.
Full titles being optioned include “Do No Harm,” “The Crime Writer,” “Trust No One,” “They’re Watching,” “You’re Next,” “The Survivor,...
- 10/26/2021
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Entertainment One has acquired the rights to bestselling author Lisa Gardner’s novel Before She Disappeared with Oscar winner Hillary Swank set to star and executive produce via her Film Bandits banner.
Gardner’s novel, published by Penguin Randomhouse in January, follows Frankie Elkin, a recovering alcoholic who travels light and is obsessed with locating missing people whose cases have been dismissed, overlooked, or marginalized.
Swank and Phillip Schneider will executive produce for Film Bandits along with Guymon Casady and Justin Grey Stone of Entertainment 360, Rene Rigal and Nuno Bettencourt of Atlantis Entertainment and David Thwaites of Ember20.
Gardner is the author of more than 20 suspense novels, published in more than 30 countries. She began her career writing romantic suspense under the pseudonym Alicia Scott, before the publication of her breakout domestic thriller, The Perfect Husband, in 1997. TV and movie credits include CBS’ At the Midnight House and The Survivors Club,...
Gardner’s novel, published by Penguin Randomhouse in January, follows Frankie Elkin, a recovering alcoholic who travels light and is obsessed with locating missing people whose cases have been dismissed, overlooked, or marginalized.
Swank and Phillip Schneider will executive produce for Film Bandits along with Guymon Casady and Justin Grey Stone of Entertainment 360, Rene Rigal and Nuno Bettencourt of Atlantis Entertainment and David Thwaites of Ember20.
Gardner is the author of more than 20 suspense novels, published in more than 30 countries. She began her career writing romantic suspense under the pseudonym Alicia Scott, before the publication of her breakout domestic thriller, The Perfect Husband, in 1997. TV and movie credits include CBS’ At the Midnight House and The Survivors Club,...
- 10/12/2021
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Creative advisors include Andrew Ahn, Derek Cianfrance, Javier Fuentes Leon, Ellen Shanman.
Film Independent on Wednesday (May 5) announced the five screenwriters selected for the 23rd annual Screenwriting Lab, with four coming from underrepresented communities and half being women.
Iesh Thapar with Alien Kulture; Jing Ai Ng (Forge); Anna Greenfield (h.g.o.p.), Alfonso Johnson (The Legend of) Man-Child Kenny); and Rochée Jeffrey (Not Your Average Queen) will take part in the programme designed to provide story and career development for emerging screenwriters with fiction feature screenplays.
Film Independent is also presenting the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and...
Film Independent on Wednesday (May 5) announced the five screenwriters selected for the 23rd annual Screenwriting Lab, with four coming from underrepresented communities and half being women.
Iesh Thapar with Alien Kulture; Jing Ai Ng (Forge); Anna Greenfield (h.g.o.p.), Alfonso Johnson (The Legend of) Man-Child Kenny); and Rochée Jeffrey (Not Your Average Queen) will take part in the programme designed to provide story and career development for emerging screenwriters with fiction feature screenplays.
Film Independent is also presenting the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and...
- 5/5/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Creative advisors include Andrew Ahn, Derek Cianfrance, Javier Fuentes Leon, Ellen Shanman.
Film Independent on Wednesday (May 5) announced the five screenwriters selected for the 23rd annual Screenwriting Lab, with four coming from underrepresented communities and half being women.
Iesh Thapar with Alien Kulture; Jing Ai Ng (Forge); Anna Greenfield (h.g.o.p.), Alfonso Johnson (The Legend of) Man-Child Kenny); and Rochée Jeffrey (Not Your Average Queen) will take part in the programme designed to provide story and career development for emerging screenwriters with fiction feature screenplays.
Film Independent is also presenting the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and...
Film Independent on Wednesday (May 5) announced the five screenwriters selected for the 23rd annual Screenwriting Lab, with four coming from underrepresented communities and half being women.
Iesh Thapar with Alien Kulture; Jing Ai Ng (Forge); Anna Greenfield (h.g.o.p.), Alfonso Johnson (The Legend of) Man-Child Kenny); and Rochée Jeffrey (Not Your Average Queen) will take part in the programme designed to provide story and career development for emerging screenwriters with fiction feature screenplays.
Film Independent is also presenting the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and...
- 5/5/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Neal H. Moritz’s Original Film (The Boys) and Sony Pictures Television have acquired the rights to the upcoming War Arts Saga fantasy novel trilogy by The Lives of Tao bestselling author Wesley Chu to adapt it for television. The three books are set to be published by Del Rey in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Jason Ning is attached as writer, executive producer and showrunner. Uta Briesewitz will direct and executive produce.
War Arts Saga is set in a world where martial arts are magic, and a grandmaster takes a spoiled would-be hero under her wing to fulfill his destiny of defeating an immortal god-king and ending a centuries-long war. It’s a wide-ranging, grounded fantasy epic that constantly subverts classic fantasy tropes by pitting themes of prophecy, religion, and destiny against the absurdity and reality of life in a fictional 2nd Century world.
War Arts Saga is set in a world where martial arts are magic, and a grandmaster takes a spoiled would-be hero under her wing to fulfill his destiny of defeating an immortal god-king and ending a centuries-long war. It’s a wide-ranging, grounded fantasy epic that constantly subverts classic fantasy tropes by pitting themes of prophecy, religion, and destiny against the absurdity and reality of life in a fictional 2nd Century world.
- 3/2/2021
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Fox has put in development Red Widow, a one-hour CIA thriller based on Alma Katsu’s forthcoming book, which Sarah Condon is executive producing. A search is underway for a writer to pen the adaptation via an open writing assignment.
In Red Widow, the lives of two female CIA agents become intertwined around an internal threat to the Agency’s Russia Division as they navigate the mostly male world of intelligence. The novel captures the kind of thorny, manipulative behind-the-scenes machinations that take place inside intelligence headquarters that only a true insider would know.
Author and former Nsa/CIA senior intelligence analyst Katsu, whose book Red Widow is set for release March 23 by Putnam, is attached as an executive producer. Fox Entertainment is the studio. The project is not related to the 2013 ABC series Red Widow or the Dutch drama on which it was based.
In Red Widow, the lives of two female CIA agents become intertwined around an internal threat to the Agency’s Russia Division as they navigate the mostly male world of intelligence. The novel captures the kind of thorny, manipulative behind-the-scenes machinations that take place inside intelligence headquarters that only a true insider would know.
Author and former Nsa/CIA senior intelligence analyst Katsu, whose book Red Widow is set for release March 23 by Putnam, is attached as an executive producer. Fox Entertainment is the studio. The project is not related to the 2013 ABC series Red Widow or the Dutch drama on which it was based.
- 2/5/2021
- by Nellie Andreeva and Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Tomorrow Studios, the producer behind apocalyptic drama Snowpiercer, is working up a television adaptation of Dean Koontz’s latest thriller novel Devoted.
The company, which is a joint venture between Marty Adelstein and ITV Studios, is adapting the book as a television series. Adelstein and Tomorrow Studios President Becky Clements will executive produce the series, along with Koontz.
The book, which was published by Amazon Publishing in March 2020, tells the story of Woody Bookman, a boy who hasn’t spoken a word in his eleven years of life, and who believes a monstrous evil was behind his father’s death and now threatens him and his mother.
When Kipp, a uniquely gifted dog with a heart as golden as his breed, hears the boy, who communicates like he does without speaking, Kipp knows he needs to find him before it’s too late. Only a force greater than evil,...
The company, which is a joint venture between Marty Adelstein and ITV Studios, is adapting the book as a television series. Adelstein and Tomorrow Studios President Becky Clements will executive produce the series, along with Koontz.
The book, which was published by Amazon Publishing in March 2020, tells the story of Woody Bookman, a boy who hasn’t spoken a word in his eleven years of life, and who believes a monstrous evil was behind his father’s death and now threatens him and his mother.
When Kipp, a uniquely gifted dog with a heart as golden as his breed, hears the boy, who communicates like he does without speaking, Kipp knows he needs to find him before it’s too late. Only a force greater than evil,...
- 10/14/2020
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: A sci-fi short story, written by Ken Liu, is being developed as a television series for Amazon by The OA writer Dominic Orlando with Orlando Bloom as exec producer.
The Cleaners tells how, in the near future, inanimate objects carry the memories of people’s experiences, and a certain number of the population have the ability to relive those memories by touch. Cleaners are specialists hired to sanitize the objects and relieve emotional burdens these memories may hold. At the center of this story is a young man who inherits his family’s cleaning business, and takes on a mysterious new commission.
The story, which is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Princess and The Pea, is part of Faraway, a collection of retold fairy tales that is set to be published on December 15 from Amazon Original Stories.
The series is produced by Amazon Studios in association...
The Cleaners tells how, in the near future, inanimate objects carry the memories of people’s experiences, and a certain number of the population have the ability to relive those memories by touch. Cleaners are specialists hired to sanitize the objects and relieve emotional burdens these memories may hold. At the center of this story is a young man who inherits his family’s cleaning business, and takes on a mysterious new commission.
The story, which is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Princess and The Pea, is part of Faraway, a collection of retold fairy tales that is set to be published on December 15 from Amazon Original Stories.
The series is produced by Amazon Studios in association...
- 10/6/2020
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: We can tell you first that Screen Gems has preemptively acquired Gregg Hurwitz and Philip Eisner’s spec script Sabine for 21 Laps, which the latter’s Shawn Levy and Dan Levine will produce. The deal, we hear, went down over the Independence Day holiday.
Sabine is an elevated thriller about an ambitious young female detective who hunts down a determined serial killer, and begins to see the world through the killer’s eyes.
Scott Strauss, Dan Primozic and Michael Bitar orchestrated the deal for Screen Gems.
Eisner wrote 1997’s Event Horizon and Simon Hunter’s Mutant Chronicles while Hurwitz is the bestselling author of Orphan X. Both will be executive producing Sabine. The duo recently wrote the thriller, Sweet Girl, which is in post-production for Netflix starring Jason Momoa.
21 Laps is the award-winning production company behind Arrival and Netflix’s Stranger Things. The company is tentatively scheduled to return...
Sabine is an elevated thriller about an ambitious young female detective who hunts down a determined serial killer, and begins to see the world through the killer’s eyes.
Scott Strauss, Dan Primozic and Michael Bitar orchestrated the deal for Screen Gems.
Eisner wrote 1997’s Event Horizon and Simon Hunter’s Mutant Chronicles while Hurwitz is the bestselling author of Orphan X. Both will be executive producing Sabine. The duo recently wrote the thriller, Sweet Girl, which is in post-production for Netflix starring Jason Momoa.
21 Laps is the award-winning production company behind Arrival and Netflix’s Stranger Things. The company is tentatively scheduled to return...
- 7/8/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Indie feature studio Roadside Attractions, a Lionsgate sister company, is continuing its push into scripted television, acquiring Robert Dugoni’s bestelling and critically acclaimed spy thriller The Eighth Sister to develop as a series.
Set in present-day Us and Russia, The Eighth Sister, the first book in a planned series, follows Charles Jenkins, a long-retired African American CIA case-officer who is re-engaged by his former bureau chief to run a top-secret mission in current day Moscow, only to find himself running for his life and possibly betrayed by his own country.
Roadside Attractions’ head of television Jennifer Berman will executive produce the project, along with Roadside Co-Presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff. Dugoni will also serve as an executive producer on the series. The Eighth Sister was published in April by Thomas & Mercer.
“Robert Dugoni’s amazing book The Eighth Sister explores the real-world tensions and spy tradecraft of today...
Set in present-day Us and Russia, The Eighth Sister, the first book in a planned series, follows Charles Jenkins, a long-retired African American CIA case-officer who is re-engaged by his former bureau chief to run a top-secret mission in current day Moscow, only to find himself running for his life and possibly betrayed by his own country.
Roadside Attractions’ head of television Jennifer Berman will executive produce the project, along with Roadside Co-Presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff. Dugoni will also serve as an executive producer on the series. The Eighth Sister was published in April by Thomas & Mercer.
“Robert Dugoni’s amazing book The Eighth Sister explores the real-world tensions and spy tradecraft of today...
- 12/3/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Future-set adventure to be published in November by Image Comics.
In what sources said was a competitive bidding situation, Brian Oliver’s New Republic Pictures has paid seven figures for rights to the upcoming graphic novel Undiscovered Country and will develop it as a potential franchise.
Scott Snyder and Charles Soule wrote and Giuseppe Camuncoli served as series artist on the property, which was unveiled at CinemaCon in July ahead of its upcoming November launch through Image Comics.
Undiscovered Country takes place 30 years in the future in a territory once known as the United States that has been walled off after a global pandemic.
In what sources said was a competitive bidding situation, Brian Oliver’s New Republic Pictures has paid seven figures for rights to the upcoming graphic novel Undiscovered Country and will develop it as a potential franchise.
Scott Snyder and Charles Soule wrote and Giuseppe Camuncoli served as series artist on the property, which was unveiled at CinemaCon in July ahead of its upcoming November launch through Image Comics.
Undiscovered Country takes place 30 years in the future in a territory once known as the United States that has been walled off after a global pandemic.
- 9/13/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Legendary Entertainment has bought movie and television rights to Jeff Lemire’s “Black Hammer” comic series universe.
The company, a subsidiary of the China-based Wanda Group, made the announcement Tuesday. Lemire will serve as an executive producer with Dean Ormston, the co-creator and illustrator of the comic series. The “Black Hammer” comics were first published by Dark Horse Comics in 2015.
Black Hammer is a superhero who joined with other superheroes — including Golden Gail, Barbalien, and Colonel Weird — to save Spiral City but in process became trapped in a timeless farm town with little chance of escape. It has received two Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, including best new series in 2017.
Lemire has also published graphic novels “Essex County” and “Sweet Tooth,” and is in development for film and television projects that include “Descender” and “A.D. After Death” at Sony Pictures; “Underwater Welder” with Ryan Gosling attached to direct; “Essex...
The company, a subsidiary of the China-based Wanda Group, made the announcement Tuesday. Lemire will serve as an executive producer with Dean Ormston, the co-creator and illustrator of the comic series. The “Black Hammer” comics were first published by Dark Horse Comics in 2015.
Black Hammer is a superhero who joined with other superheroes — including Golden Gail, Barbalien, and Colonel Weird — to save Spiral City but in process became trapped in a timeless farm town with little chance of escape. It has received two Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, including best new series in 2017.
Lemire has also published graphic novels “Essex County” and “Sweet Tooth,” and is in development for film and television projects that include “Descender” and “A.D. After Death” at Sony Pictures; “Underwater Welder” with Ryan Gosling attached to direct; “Essex...
- 11/13/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Series centres on superheroes stranded in timeless town.
Legendary Entertainment will adapt Jeff Lemire’s Eisner Award-winning Black Hammer comic book series into television and film.
Lemire will serve as an executive producer with Dean Ormston, the co-creator and illustrator of the comic series from publisher Dark Horse Comics about superheroes stranded in a timeless town after they attempt to save Spiral City from the Anti-God.
A press release issued on behalf of Legendary said, “In Black Hammer, the characters come first, and the super hero aspects become the canvas to tell their stories.”
The comic book debuted in 2015 and...
Legendary Entertainment will adapt Jeff Lemire’s Eisner Award-winning Black Hammer comic book series into television and film.
Lemire will serve as an executive producer with Dean Ormston, the co-creator and illustrator of the comic series from publisher Dark Horse Comics about superheroes stranded in a timeless town after they attempt to save Spiral City from the Anti-God.
A press release issued on behalf of Legendary said, “In Black Hammer, the characters come first, and the super hero aspects become the canvas to tell their stories.”
The comic book debuted in 2015 and...
- 11/13/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Shonda Rhimes and Matt Reeves are developing Blake Crouch’s upcoming science-fiction novel “Recursion” as a feature film and television series for Netflix.
The deal was announced Thursday. Netflix has secured the rights to “Recursion” for Rhimes and Betsy Beers’ Shondaland and Reeves’ 6th & Idaho. “Recursion” will be published by Crown on June 11.
“Recursion” explores what happens when a brilliant female scientist invents a powerful technology that allows people not just to reactivate their most visceral memories but to reinvent them entirely. For some, it offers the chance to rewrite their entire lives. In the wrong hands, it will upend the world.
“Projects like this are why I came to Netflix,” said Rhimes. “The opportunity to explore a multi-genre universe in innovative ways is extremely exciting. Matt and Blake both have the tremendous ability to build compelling characters and imaginative landscapes and I am thrilled to work alongside them.”
Reeves said,...
The deal was announced Thursday. Netflix has secured the rights to “Recursion” for Rhimes and Betsy Beers’ Shondaland and Reeves’ 6th & Idaho. “Recursion” will be published by Crown on June 11.
“Recursion” explores what happens when a brilliant female scientist invents a powerful technology that allows people not just to reactivate their most visceral memories but to reinvent them entirely. For some, it offers the chance to rewrite their entire lives. In the wrong hands, it will upend the world.
“Projects like this are why I came to Netflix,” said Rhimes. “The opportunity to explore a multi-genre universe in innovative ways is extremely exciting. Matt and Blake both have the tremendous ability to build compelling characters and imaginative landscapes and I am thrilled to work alongside them.”
Reeves said,...
- 10/4/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix has landed the rights to Blake Crouch’s upcoming novel Recursion for Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beer’s Shondaland and Matt Reeves’ 6th & Idaho which they will develop as a feature film as well as a television universe. Recursion will hit book shelves from Crown on June 11, 2019.
Recursion marks the first film project announced under Shondaland since seguing from ABC to Netflix last year in a multi-year deal; in July the label announced the eight series she has in development with the streaming studio. The project returns Rhimes to her filmmaking roots; she wrote wrote the story and screenplay for the late Garry Marshall’s The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement as well as the Britney Spears 2002 feature Crossroads. Recursion is the latest move by Netflix in how they’re building film-tv universes. Yesterday, Netflix announced the development of The Chronicles of Narnia films and TV series. At...
Recursion marks the first film project announced under Shondaland since seguing from ABC to Netflix last year in a multi-year deal; in July the label announced the eight series she has in development with the streaming studio. The project returns Rhimes to her filmmaking roots; she wrote wrote the story and screenplay for the late Garry Marshall’s The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement as well as the Britney Spears 2002 feature Crossroads. Recursion is the latest move by Netflix in how they’re building film-tv universes. Yesterday, Netflix announced the development of The Chronicles of Narnia films and TV series. At...
- 10/4/2018
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Ellen Shanman has been hired to adapt the female-led, sci-fi thriller The Hidden Girl which is based on the short story from author Ken Liu. The Hidden Girl is inspired by an ancient Chinese myth about a team of women assassins who are able to navigate between dimensions. Shanman, an author in her own right, most recently adapted the bestselling spy-girl book series Gallagher Girls for Paramount as well as the Japanese cult anime series Tiger & Bunny for Imagine Entertainment and Anew.
The Hidden Girl was acquired a couple of years ago by Studio 8 and is said to be in the vein of both Interstellar and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Recent acquisitions at Studio 8 includes Champion, Hypnotic, Planet Kill and, finally, Naked is the Best Disguise which has been fast-tracked, with an eye towards production this year. Jessica Switch and Chris Goldberg will oversee for Studio 8 with...
The Hidden Girl was acquired a couple of years ago by Studio 8 and is said to be in the vein of both Interstellar and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Recent acquisitions at Studio 8 includes Champion, Hypnotic, Planet Kill and, finally, Naked is the Best Disguise which has been fast-tracked, with an eye towards production this year. Jessica Switch and Chris Goldberg will oversee for Studio 8 with...
- 4/9/2018
- by Anita Busch
- Deadline Film + TV
Tomorrow Studios has acquired TV rights to The Oracle Year, a forthcoming debut novel by best-selling comic book writer Charles Soule.
Tomorrow Studios has acquired TV rights to The Oracle Year, a forthcoming debut novel by best-selling comic book writer Charles Soule.
Tomorrow, the Us partnership between producer Marty Adelstein (pictured) and ITV Studios, is in active development on an adaptation of the novel, about a twentysomething New Yorker who sees the future and uses the ability to become the most famous person in the world. Soule will serve as executive producer alongside Adelstein and Tomorrow president Becky Clements.
Soule has written comic books for Marvel, DC, Image and other publishers. He won the 2015 Stan Lee Excelsior Award for Superman/Wonder Woman Vol 1: Power Couple and is creator-owner of the Letter 44 series. The Oracle Year is set to be released on April 3 by Harper Collins.
Commenting on the deal, Tomorrow’s Clements...
Tomorrow Studios has acquired TV rights to The Oracle Year, a forthcoming debut novel by best-selling comic book writer Charles Soule.
Tomorrow, the Us partnership between producer Marty Adelstein (pictured) and ITV Studios, is in active development on an adaptation of the novel, about a twentysomething New Yorker who sees the future and uses the ability to become the most famous person in the world. Soule will serve as executive producer alongside Adelstein and Tomorrow president Becky Clements.
Soule has written comic books for Marvel, DC, Image and other publishers. He won the 2015 Stan Lee Excelsior Award for Superman/Wonder Woman Vol 1: Power Couple and is creator-owner of the Letter 44 series. The Oracle Year is set to be released on April 3 by Harper Collins.
Commenting on the deal, Tomorrow’s Clements...
- 1/22/2018
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
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