Fun THE TV DEVELOPMENT HELL THREAD: Where Abandoned TV Show Ideas Go to Die!

[Doctor Omega]

Stone Directs “Guantanamo” Drama Series





Weinstein Television has announced they have acquired the multi-season dramatic series “Guantanamo” which will mark Oliver Stone’s first time serving as director of scripted television.

Created by Daniel Voll (“The Unit”), the series will focus on the detainees held in the world’s most controversial prison, and those who defend and condemn them.

The multi-perspective series, in the vein of “Traffic,” is based in part on Voll’s first-hand research and will provide an inside, never-before-seen look into the darkest corners of Guantanamo.

The series will not only tell the story of the detainees, but will follow the lives of the soldiers, judges, lawyers, doctors, journalists and other civilians on the remote military base.

Stone plans to direct all of season one which Alexandra Milchan (“The Wolf of Wall Street”) will produce.

 

[Doctor Omega]

HBO Plans “Today Will Be Different” Series





HBO has commissioned multiple scripts for “Today Will Be Different,” a limited series which will serve as Julia Roberts’ first series foray into television.

Annapurna Television is developing the high-profile adaptation of Maria Semple’s bestselling novel with Semple penning the scripts and Roberts producing and starring.

The actress plays Eleanor Flood who wakes up determined to be her best self, but then life happens. Taking place over a single day, it’s described as a rollicking portrait of one woman’s fumbling but valiant attempt to navigate modern life.

Semple, Megan Ellison and Sue Naegle will produce.

 

[Doctor Omega]

 

[Doctor Omega]

Russos, Selick Adapt “Little Nightmares” For TV




“Avengers: Infinity War” directors Anthony and Joe Russo are teaming with the legendary “A Nightmare Before Christmas” director Henry Selick for a TV series adaptation of the horror-adventure video game “Little Nightmares”.

The game follows a nine-year-old girl named Six who finds herself trapped on the bottom of a terror-filled ship named the Maw. She tries to escape from the ship while evading capture and death at the hands of characters named the Janitor, the Twin Chefs and the Lady.

The Russo brothers will develop and executive produce the television series with Dmitri M. Johnson, Samuel Gatte and Stephan Bugaj. Selick will helm the pilot and possibly other episodes.

DJ2 Entertainment, which is producing, is also working on adaptations of games like “Life Is Strange” and “Sonic the Hedgehog”.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Martin Freeman Plans “Paradise Lost” TV Series





“Sherlock” actor Martin Freeman is set to executive produce and potentially star in a TV series adaptation of John Milton’s epic 17th-century poem “Paradise Lost”.

The story deals with the epic war in heaven between archangels Michael and Lucifer. Bradley Cooper and Benjamin Walker were previously attached to star in a film adaptation which Alex Proyas was developing until budget issues cancelled it.

No writers or broadcaster are attached, but FremantleMedia-backed producer Dancing Ledge indicates discussions with potential U.S. and U.K. partners are underway.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Gibson’s “Hinterlands” Gets Adapted





Hand-drawn animation company Last Studio Standing has announced plans for a short film and TV series adaptation of “Neuromancer” author William Gibson’s 1981 sci-fi short story “Hinterlands”.

The story follows a Russian space station that goes missing, only to reappear years later with everyone dead. Subsequent trips to those coordinates by any ship sees them disappear into a mysterious other place and turn up dead – with their remains returning with clues about the other place.

In a press release, CEO Jonathan Kitzen says: “It is such a great story. We know we can do more with it because animation is an all-powerful tool that can create anything. We plan on making something that looks like Gravity mixed with Blade Runner, and this story offers us a huge palette of possibilities, for about $100 million less than a traditional live action film.”

Last Studio Standing aims to have a short pilot episode done for a longer TV series by next year – with said pilot to be shown in cinemas. That would then kick off a ‘five year plan’ for the franchise, including a TV show with a potential second series spin-off.

 

[Gavin]

If that image is indicative of the animation quality this will look incredible.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Oliver Stone has been slated to direct the two-hour opening episode of “Guantanamo,” a new scripted drama series which will air on Showtime.

The premium cabler has won a competitive bidding war for the ten episode first season which marks Stone’s first foray into scripted television. Weinstein Television will produce.

The story will focus on the detainees held in the world’s most controversial prison, and those who defend and condemn them. Alexandra Milchan (“The Wolf Of Wall Street”) will also produce.

Daniel Voll (“The Unit”) created and will serve as showrunner on the series with a writers room opening in August ahead of production kicking off later this year.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Barrymore & CW Plan “Black Rose Anthology”





Drew Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen’s Flower Films and CBS TV Studios are set to produce “Black Rose Anthology,” a new horror series written and directed entirely by women at The CW.

Jill Blotevogel (“Scream The TV Series”) will pen the pilot which aims to explore some of humanity’s deepest fears from a woman’s unique perspective.

The episodes plan to explore: “guilt, jealousy, repression, paranoia, insanity, sexual obsession and survival through a modern and distinctly feminine lens.”

Blotevogel, Barrymore, Juvonen, Jamie Denenberg, Kevin Abrams, Chris Miller, Ember Truesdell, Nick Phillips, Anthony Masi and Lotti Pharriss Knowles will all executive produce.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Surrender, New York
FOX is developing a one-hour drama series based on Caleb Carr’s novel “Surrender, New York” with a script commissioned for the project with a penalty attached. Richard Wenk will pen the script and executive produce.

The story follows a famed NYPD criminal psychologist, Dr. Trajan Jones, who brings his effective yet controversial methodology and persona to the rural town of Surrender, in upstate New York, where he joins forces with the local state trooper Penelope Howell.

 

[Doctor Omega]

The reboots never stop.

YOUNG GUNS is the latest planned tv series reboot, from Morgan Creak Entertainment.

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

Why? Just...why? I love those movies. What exactly about them needs remade? You want to do another movie about those historical characters - perhaps stay closer to actual history - fine. But don't use the name simply to get the audience interested.

 

[ant-mac]

Why? Just...why? I love those movies. What exactly about them needs remade? You want to do another movie about those historical characters - perhaps stay closer to actual history - fine. But don't use the name simply to get the audience interested.

If it ain't fucked, don't fix it.

And if it's fixed, don't fuck it!

 

[Doctor Omega]

Amazon Plans “Conan the Barbarian” TV Series





Amazon Studios has reportedly begun development of a TV series based on the classic “Conan the Barbarian” books by Robert E. Howard.

In this take, the sword-swinging hero is driven out of his homeland and deals with the “mysterious and treacherous world of civilization where he searches for purpose in a place that rejects him as a mindless savage”.

“Colony” creator Ryan Condal, “Fargo” executive producer Warren Littlefield, and acclaimed “Game of Thrones” helmer Miguel Sapochnik are teaming for the project which is being set up at Pathfinder Media and Endeavor Content.

The series has been created and written by Condal and all three will executive produce alongside Fredrik Malmberg and Mark Wheeler. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jason Momoa have previously played the role on the big screen, while the property has been adapted into numerous comics, video games and TV series.

 

[McQualude]

I would love, love, love it. But I doubt it's viable in today's political climate. It'll be so watered down as to be unrecognizable.

 

[Doctor Omega]

I know they made a mess of the 2011 theatrical remake. Hopefully they have learned a lesson from that....

 

[Doctor Omega]

FremantleMedia Plans “Astro City” TV Series





FremantleMedia North America (“American Gods”) has acquired the screen rights to Kurt Busiek’s superhero comic book series “Astro City” with plans to develop it as a live-action TV drama series.

The fictional Astro City universe explores the lives of ordinary people in a mid-sized American city and those of the all-too-human superhumans in their midst, and their collective, daily struggle to hold on to hope in the face of world-shaking, life-altering events beyond any single individual’s control.

The part superhero epic, part intimate drama comic spans sixteen standalone yet loosely-connected story arcs and has yet to be exploited for the screen. Busiek and Rick Alexander will pen the pilot episode while Gregory Noveck serves as executive producer of the proposed TV series.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Orpan X: TV series adaption announced...

 

[Doctor Omega]

Lin, Hurwitz To Adapt “Orphan X” To Series





Makeready has landed the screen rights to Gregg Hurwitz’s bestselling five-book “Orphan X” novel series with plans to adapt the thrillers into a TV series.

The story follows Evan Smoak, who after being pulled from his home at the age of 12 is trained in the Orphan Program as a secret government assassin.

After he escapes the program he creates a new life for himself, until he is forced to complete one last mission: saving the final Orphan from being wiped out by the group that organised the project.

Justin Lin’s Perfect Storm Entertainment will co-produce the project which Hurwitz will co-write and executive produce with Lin, Scott Nemes and Danielle Woodrow.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Adaption of 2017 Novel on it's way.....


When Apollo Kagwa was just a child, his father disappeared, leaving him with recurring nightmares and a box labelled 'Improbabilia'. Now a successful book dealer, Kagwa has a family of his own after meeting and falling in love with Emma, a librarian. The two marry and have a baby: so far so happy-ever-after.

However, as the pair settle into their new lives as parents, exhaustion and anxiety start to take their toll. Emma's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, until one day she commits an unthinkable act, setting Apollo on a wild and fantastical quest through a suddenly otherworldly New York, in search of a wife and child he no longer recognises.

An epic novel for our anxiety-ridden times, The Changeling is a tale of parenthood, love - in its most raw and brutal form - and, ultimately, humanity.