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Re: Under the Dome (TV series)

edited November 2009 in Adaptations
Steven Spielberg and Stephen King Team for "Under the Dome" Mini-Series



Steven Spielberg and Stephen King are joining forces to develop a limited series based on King's just-released supernatural thriller "Under the Dome." DreamWorks TV has optioned the book and is looking to set it up as an event series, likely for cable.



DreamWorks principal Stacey Snider was key in bringing the project to the company. Spielberg, King and Snider will exec produce along with DreamWorks TV chiefs Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey.Book, which has earned strong reviews as a return to form for the prolific author, revolves around the drama that unfolds after an invisible force field suddenly descends on a small vacation town in Maine. As the locals fight for their survival, the town descends into warring factions led by enigmatic characters.



DreamWorks is starting to meet with writers for the project. The plan is to set a writer before shopping the skein to prospective buyers.



Spielberg and King have worked together in the past, developing a screen adaptation of King's 1984 novel "The Talisman," on which Spielberg has had the option for more than 20 years. That project has been developed as a feature, and it came close to being done as a mini for TNT a few years ago until it was tabled for budgetary reasons.



The "Dome" deal continues a burst of activity on the smallscreen side for Spielberg and DreamWorks TV. Among the high-profile projects in the works is a series about the development of a fictional Broadway tuner for Showtime. Another Showtime contender is a costume-drama revolving around the Borgia clan, penned by Neil Jordan and with Robert Zemeckis also producing.



DreamWorks TV also produces the pay cabler's dramedy "United States of Tara," for which star Toni Collette won the lead comedy actress Emmy in September. "Tara" bows its sophomore season in March.


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Comments

  • Lost showrunner Carlton Cuse says that he was almost involved in the Under the Dome film.

    I discussed projects with a variety of producers and executives. They ranged from the sublime — an adaptation of Stephen King’s wonderful novel Under the Dome, which for a variety of reasons did not work out — to some decidedly less so: a guy and a ghost are a detective team.


    >>> Source
  • It will probably happen eventually but this is not one that excites me about being adapted for film IMO, much as I enjoyed the book.
  • I've found most films made from King's work to be fairly disappointing. There are exceptions, though (Misery, Shawshank, Stand by Me) but, overall, they've been mostly mediocre.



    John
  • True.



    Under The Dome as a miniseries seems like a better fit in my opinion.
  • From an article in the 3/6/11 New York Times Book Review:



    [Writers] can take inspiration from Stephen King, whose recent “Under the Dome” is a complete rewrite of a failed novel from 30 years ago called “The Cannibals.” “The character list kept growing, and they didn’t connect, and I just got to a point where I dropped it,” King remembered. But three decades later, a fresh shot at the concept worked: “It was like my mind was working on it underneath.” King is sanguine enough about his failures to have published the original “Cannibals” — and another botch, “The Plant,” about a carnivorous vine that takes over a publishing house — online. “Look, writing a novel is like paddling from Boston to London in a bathtub,” he said. “Sometimes the damn tub sinks. It’s a wonder that most of them don’t.”


  • That's great!
  • Very interesting! I like the analogy!



    John
  • "The River" writer Michael Green is at work adapting the Stephen King tome "Under the Dome" in preparation for DreamWorks TV to shop to broadcast and cable buyers in a few months.



    >>> Variety
  • Showtime Teams With Steven Spielberg And Stephen King For ‘Under The Dome’ Series



    DreamWorks’ Spielberg and Stacey Snider nabbed the rights to King’s novel shortly after it was published in November 2009 to strong reviews. Search is underway for a writer to write the project, whose executive producers will include King and DreamWorks TV’s Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank.
  • Lou_Sytsma wrote:

    Under The Dome as a miniseries seems like a better fit in my opinion.


    ;)
  • EXCLUSIVE: After an extensive search, comic book and Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan has been tapped to pen Showtime’s drama series adaptation of Stephen King’s 2009 novel Under the Dome, from DreamWorks Television. The supernatural thriller revolves around locals at a Maine vacation spot who battle one another when a force field suddenly surrounds their town and cuts them off from the rest of the world. DreamWorks’ Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider originally secured the rights to King’s novel shortly after it was published in November 2009. The project was set up as a series at Showtime in August when the producers and Showtime launched a search for a writer. Under The Dome is executive produced by King and DreamWorks TV’s Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank. Vaughan is a familiar name for comic book and sci-fi fans. He is best known for writing the comic book series Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways and Pride Of Baghdad and for being a writer on ABC’s popular series Lost during seasons 3-5.



    Source
  • Under the Dome has a 13 episode order to appear as a summer series on CBS.  Entertainment Weekly has the details.
  • Fans of the novel shouldn’t expect an exact retelling of the same story. Last we heard, writer Brian K. Vaughan’s (Lost) script for Dome was wisely using the novel’s setup as a launch pad for its own TV-format-friendly version of the story and might even lay the groundwork for a different outcome than the novel’s ending. Also, the CBS version is definitely a series, not a mini-series, with a finale episode that will leave the story open for more seasons.
  • CBS Exec: Stephen King's 'Under The Dome' A New Media Experiment For The Network



    Koondel said Under The Dome will be a “multi platform experience for viewers” who can “watch it on different platforms,” including the network TV screen, online and in other electronic forms. “It’s the perfect show,” declares Koondel, “somewhat serialized…A perfect example of what were going to look to do to capitalize” on new business opportunities.
  • A CBS television series based on a best-selling Stephen King novel will film in Wilmington, according to local film industry sources.



    "Under the Dome," a 13-episode series based on the author's 2009 book, is expected to open production offices at EUE/Screen Gems Studios next week, sources said.



    >>> Source
  • June 24th



    CBS has announced its summer schedule, including the premiere date of its eagerly anticipated adaptation of Stephen King’s bestselling novel Under the Dome and the return of resurrected crime procedural Unforgettable.



    Dome follows a New England town that’s sealed off from the rest of the world by a mysterious invisible force field. CBS screened a video teased up Dome for TV critics at the network’s press tour session in Pasadena on Saturday with a reel that included interviews with King and showrunner Brian K. Vaughan. “It’s really exciting to take the book and possibly expand it,” King said. “That’s what TV is for … TV is an expansive medium.” King said he’s particularly pleased to have Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment producing the show. “I’ve always wanted to work with Steven,” King said. “Our view of American life is similar … we both see the extraordinary in ordinary things and people.”



    The first trailer for Dome’s 13-episode debut season will air during CBS’ coverage of the Super Bowl next month. The network’s entertainment president Nina Tassler teased that the first season will conclude with a major piece of information being revealed about the mystery of the force field.



    >>> Source
  • At CBS’s executive session with Nina Tassler, Tassler showed a promo video for their upcoming summer series “Under the Dome;” which is based upon Stephen King’s epic novel of the same name. Tassler said the show begins shooting in February in Wilmington, NC and it will air this summer, with promos playing during the SuperBowl.



    Tassler then showed the video which featured King and screenwriter Brian K. Vaughan discussing the series, with a few clips and animatics illustrating how graphic the show might be. People and cows sliced in half by the dome landing, a plane crashing into the dome in mid-air, townspeople ransacking supermarkets and washing their bloody hammers from God knows what kinds of murder.



    “At the time that it comes down, the wife of the town’s selectman is taking flying lessons and the plane hits this invisible dome,” described King. “The pilot just sees the nose of the plane crumble and parts of the plane hit the ground. The gradual realization of what this thing is should be powerful. I thought of it as a force field. TVs won’t work, electronics won’t work.”



    Vaughan added another gory detail about the dome’s EMP quality. “If you get too close to it, pacemakers will explode out of your body.”



    King spoke my language when he added that “Under the Dome” would deal with how long supplies last when the town of Chester’s Mill is cut off. “There’s only so much heat, only so much food. It was a chance to talk about the depletion of resources and how people behave in extraordinary circumstances.”



    The plan for “Under the Dome” is to make it last even longer than the 1000 plus page book will take to read. “It’s very exciting to take the idea of the book and possibly expand it,” explained King. “That’s what TV is for. It’s an expansive medium. The novel only covers a short period of time. The idea of the TV series is not to extended it for a week, but months.”



    Of course, no movie or television show is exactly like the book, and King seemed okay with Vaughan’s changes.



    “I read Brian’s pilot script and thought it was terrific,” noted King. “It’s like the book in a lot of ways. It takes different directions from the book in other ways and that’s good. I think that Amblin television is the natural place for ‘Under the Dome’ to go. I always felt like [Steven] Spielberg’s view of American Life and mine are similar. We both see the extraordinary things in ordinary things and people.”



    King is known most for horror, but let’s not forget that the best of King crosses genres like Stand By Me, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption and The Running Man. “‘Under the Dome’ combines action, intrigue, drama, mystery, romance, sex,” offered Vaughan. “Different characters will have different relationships with the dome. What happens to people involved, blossoming romances when they’re cut off from society. It’s going to bring out the best in some people and the worst in other people.”



    Like King’s fictional New England town of Castle Rock, Chester’s Mill will become a rich place for viewers to visit each week.



    “In small towns, we think we know everybody else’s business and everybody holds back,” said King. “Some of the people in ‘Under the Dome’ are pretty sick indeed. If people like the show, it won’t have to end after X number of pages. They can come back to Chester’s Mill week after week and obviously I hope that’s what will happen.”



    >>> Source
  • We Bought A Zoo co-star Colin Ford has become the first actor cast in Under The Dome, a 13-episode series from Steven Spielberg and Stephen King to air this summer. Based on King’s bestselling 2009 novel, the series is set in Chester’s Mill, a small New England town suddenly and inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by an enormous transparent dome. The town’s inhabitants must deal with surviving the post-apocalyptic conditions while searching for answers to what this barrier is, where it came from and if and when it will go away. Ford will play Joe, a teenager living in Chester’s Mill, a very smart kid who’s understandably freaked out when he discovers that the mysterious barrier covers the whole town — and both his parents are outside of it. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo helmer Niels Arden Oplev is directing the first episode from a script by Brian K. Vaughan. Spielberg’s Amblin Television, which developed the project, co-produces with CBS TV Studios. Neal Baer serves as showrunner. DreamWorks’ Stacey Snider is executive producing with Spielberg, King, Baer, Vaughn, Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank. In addition to playing Matt Damon’s teen son in We Bought A Zoo, Ford, repped by UTA and Management 360, played Young Sam Winchester on the CW’s Supernatural, recently guest starred on NBC’s Revolution and voices the title character on the Disney Jr. animated series Jake And The Never Land Pirates.
  • Hmph. They didn't ask me if I wanted to play Scarecrow Joe again. http://www.scarecrowjoe.com/
  • A different ending than the novel is a good thing.
  • The summer series based on Stephen King’s bestseller Under the Dome has cast Natalie Martinez as a young, ambitious sheriff’s deputy and newcomer Alexander Koch as Junior Rennie, the cunning and deeply disturbed son of the local politician and car dealer. Martinez has recently had stints on CBS’ CSI: NY and ABC’s Detroit 1-8-7.
  • Per TV Guide, "Life Unexpected" and "The Secret Circle" star Britt Robertson has been cast in the summer series, joining the previously announced Natalie Martinez ("CSI: NY," Death Race 2008), Colin Ford ("Supernatural"), and Alex Koch.



    The 13-episode show, which will premiere June 24th, begins shooting in February in Wilmington, North Carolina. Robertson will play Angie, an attractive young waitress and aspiring nurse who's always dreamed of escaping the town. Koch's character, Junior Rennie, is desperately in love with her.
  • Glee's Jolene Purdy and Nashville's Nicholas Srong have joined the cast. Purdy, who played tough-girl Ronnie in a handful of episodes of Fox's Glee, will play Dodee, a brilliant, eccentric engineer at the local radio station who uses her skills to make contact with the world outside the dome. Strong, who plays JT on the ABC freshman drama, will play Phil, a popular radio DJ and indie rock fan who's a charismatic figure with a dark secret. Both roles are series regulars.
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