Cable network AMC brought out its upfront presentation this week and there’s a lot of interesting potential projects in the mix that genre fans could really sink their teeth into if they come to fruition. With a Walking Dead spinoff, a Brian Aldiss book adaptation and a new Chris Carter TV series? First, while we know that The Walking Dead will be back for another round, we’ve also gotten the renewal notice for Comic Book Men, the scripted unscripted show that definitely has a good bit of fun and is on our must-see list every week just to revisit with toys, comics and industry personalities that deserve a lot of recognition. Kevin Smith is working a couple of new things with the network including a late night project called Hollywood Babble-On and a docu-series on Robert Bruce, the collector and appraiser that shows up regularly on Comic Book Men.
The untitled Walking Dead Companion show hasn’t released any new details about what’s in store for it, but they have made a deal with Sons of Anarchy’s Dave Erickson who is coming on board as an executive producer for the show and will co-write it with Robert Kirkman, which definitely ups the interest even more to see what the pair will do.
AMC is expanding into some comedies this year to try and broaden their reach, and important piece of the puzzle in dealing with a post-Mad Men and post-Breaking Bad situation, but we’ll focus more on the genre shows and other adaptations. Note that all show titles are Working Titles
“Area 51”
Writer and Executive Producer: Chris Carter (“The X Files”); Executive Producer: Gale Anne Hurd (“The Walking Dead,” “The Terminator”)
Based on the NY Times best-seller “Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base” by Annie Jacobson. A contemporary conspiracy thriller revealing the true story behind the infamous Area 51, America’s most mysterious military installation.
“Police State”
Writer and Executive Producer: Michael Tolkin (“The Player”); Executive Producers: Josh Applebaum, André Nemec, Scott Rosenberg & Jeff Pinkner
A dark comedic tale of Ollie, a big-box store security guard, who is secretly recruited by an NSA-like organization. Starting as an observer, a person who can see everything by manipulating our electronic devices, Ollie will rise to power in hopes of changing the system but will ultimately compromise his intentions.
“The Sparrow”
Writer and Executive Producer: Michael Perry (“The River,” “Paranormal Activity 2”)
Based on Mary Doria Russell’s acclaimed science-fiction epic, “The Sparrow” tells the story of a Jesuit-led mission to make first contact with an alien race.
FIRST LOOK DEVELOPMENT
AMC’s first-look deal with Ridley Scott’s Scott Free has yielded the previously-announced pilot “Galyntine,” from Greg Nicotero (“The Walking Dead,” “This Is The End,” “Oz The Great And Powerful,” “Transformers”) and Jason Cahill (“The Sopranos,” “Halt and Catch Fire,” “Fringe,” “Surface,” “Profiler”), which is currently in pre-production, and the previously-announced development project “Raiders,” from writer and executive producer, Evan Wright (“Generation Kill”). Today, AMC announced the addition of pilot script supervising and executive producer John McNamara to “Raiders,” as well as another project from the first-look deal:
“Strange Angel”
Executive Producers: Ridley Scott and David Zucker of Scott Free
AMC has optioned the book, “Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons” by George Pendle, based on the life of Jim Parsons, a brilliant rocket scientist and co-founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. While a pioneer in research that had only recently been dreamed up in science fiction, his bright future gave way to ruin as Parsons headed down another, darker path into the occult community of mid-century Los Angeles.
“Outer Darkness”
Writer and Co-Executive Producer: Jim McDermott; Executive Producers: Stacey Sher (“Pulp Fiction”) and Michael Shamberg (“Django Unchained,” “Pulp Fiction”) of Double Feature Films
A grounded take on exorcism by exploring everyday evil in an idyllic midwestern town.
BOOK OPTIONS:
“Somewhere East of Life”
Author: Brian Aldiss
Set in the near future, this book tells the story of a man as he tries to reclaim his identity after having the last ten years of his memories stolen.
