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Re: Under the Dome (TV series)
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.
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.
Comments
>>> Source
John
Under The Dome as a miniseries seems like a better fit in my opinion.
[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.”
John
>>> Variety
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.
Source
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.
"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
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
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
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.