Mind MGMT And Flutter Head For TV Development
by Erik Amaya
The list of comics-to-TV adaptations continues to grow.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dark Horse Entertainment and Universal Cable Production have renewed their first look deal with a handful of Dark Horse comic releases heading into development.
One of the projects will be based on Matt Kindt’s Mind MGMT, the tale of a true crime writer who discovers secret government psychic spies after a mysterious plane crash. The Blacklist veteran Dan Cerone will adapt the book for TV. The other project takes its inspiration from Jennie Wood and Jeff McComsey’s Flutter. Sense8‘s Katherine Lindberg and Marc Rosen will adapt the story of a teenage shapeshifter who turns herself into her crush’s vision of a dream boy.
“Dark Horse is proud to continue its partnership with Universal Cable Productions,” said Mike Richardson, President of Dark Horse Entertainment. “Our companies have worked together closely with great success. We have some exciting projects in the works and couldn’t be happier about continuing the relationship.”
Other series in development thanks to the renewed pact include Tanis, based on the Nic Silver’s podcast in which he attempts to solve “the last great mystery of the internet age.” Another podcast, The Bright Sessions, will also serve as the basis of a potential series. According to THR, it will be “a sci-fi drama that follows a mysterious therapist and her unique set of patients, each struggling with a supernatural ability.” Tanis will be produced by The Son‘s Lee Shipman and podcast creator Terry Miles. Sam Raimi (“Evil Dead”) and South Park‘s Debbie Liebling will also serve as producers via their company POD 3. The Bright Sessions will be adapted for television by Gabrielle G. Stanton, a veteran of Grey’s Anatomy and The Flash, and the podcast’s creator and star, Lauren Shippen.
None of the possible shows have network or cable channel commitments yet, but considering Dark Horse and UCP brought Umbrella Academy to Netflix, it won’t be long before these new projects find homes.
I have to admit I’ve missed the boat on all of these comics and podcasts, but will definitely take a look as I no doubt recover from con-crud next week. Considering the breadth of the announced projects, it would seem Dark Horse and UCP are interested in the fantastic with various degrees of realism, genre-bending and diversity. If nothing else, you have to applaud the search for different kinds of stories to tell as television becomes an wider and wider medium.
