The Gun Machine - Warren Ellis FOX show

[The NZA]

source

 

 

book's not even out yet, here's a description:

 

After a shootout claims the life of his partner in a condemned tenement building on Pearl Street, Detective John Tallow unwittingly stumbles across an apartment stacked high with guns. When examined, each weapon leads to a different, previously unsolved murder. Someone has been killing people for twenty years or more and storing the weapons together for some inexplicable purpose.

 

Confronted with the sudden emergence of hundreds of unsolved homicides, Tallow soon discovers that he's walked into a veritable deal with the devil. An unholy bargain that has made possible the rise of some of Manhattan's most prominent captains of industry. A hunter who performs his deadly acts as a sacrifice to the old gods of Manhattan, who may, quite simply, be the most prolific murderer in New York City's history.

 

http://www.deadline.com/2012/08/fox-...n-ellis-novel/

 

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has put in development Gun Machine, a drama based on the upcoming novel of the same name by top comic book writer Warren Ellis. The TV series adaptation, a thriller about a beleaguered New York City detective who stumbles upon a cache of hundreds of guns that trace back to a wide array of seemingly unrelated unsolved murders, will be written by Trauma creator Dario Scardapane and produced by 20th Century Fox TV and studio-based Chernin Entertainment. Chernin and the studio made an offer on Gun Machine, which will be published in January by Mulholland Books, sight unseen. “Chernin and Fox pursued Gun Machine with great passion and intelligence, and I couldn’t be happier to be making this show with them,” Ellis said. He will executive produce the potential TV series with Scardapane, Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope.

 

Ellis’ graphic novel Red was turned into a successful movie produced by Summit and Lorenzo di Bonaventura. A sequel is slated to go into production at the end of the year. Additionally, Tim Miller is attached to direct the feature film adaptation of Ellis’ graphic novel series Gravel which is set up at Legendary, and Ellis is collaborating with Joss Whedon on the Wastelanders webseries. Ellis is repped by Angela Cheng Caplan, with attorney George Davis handling his deal, and Lydia Wills negotiating the book agreement. Scardapane is with WME. This is Chernin Entertainment’s second drama sale for Fox so far this season, along with a premium script deal for a project from writer Chris Levinson.

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=14287

 

The news popped yesterday evening, while I was at dinner. This is one of the things I’ve been working on for the last few months, and it eventually all happened last week (and then I took a long weekend to rest). Deadline.com has the press release: Fox Buys Thriller From Chernin’s Company Based On Upcoming Warren Ellis Novel.

 

Basically, this happened: Chernin Entertainment (in the form of a relentless and charming lady called Lauren Stein) bought GUN MACHINE pre-emptively, sight unseen, half a year before its publication.

 

Then we went looking for a showrunner, which we found in the body of Dario Scardapane. I went with Dario because he got the themes of the book immediately. Dario, with me mostly just sort of getting in his way, came up with a take on the book as a series. We got in a room with Fox Broadcasting (who partly arrived in the form of Jon Wax, an acquaintance and supporter) and told them what we wanted to do. And the next day I got a phone call telling me that we had successfully fooled Fox into buying it for development.

 

It’s important to note at this point that I take the credit for none of this. This is down to Dario, and Lauren Stein and Katherine Pope, and my agent Angela Cheng Caplan and my patient lawyer George Davis of Nelson Davis Wetzstein. And I have to take this opportunity to thank all of them. Particularly Angela and George, who save me from myself on a regular basis. Also, Lydia Wills, without whom none of this would have happened at all, and John Schoenfelder and Michael Pietsch for believing in the book at the start.

 

There have, of course, been a lot of jokes about Fox cancelling their series. I loved PROFIT, and I, too, would have liked to have seen that second season of HOUSE. Anyway. It’s all the luck of the draw, and I’d rather be in this position than not.

 

As I learned on GLOBAL FREQUENCY way back when, tv is a series of hurdles, and nothing’s a locked deal even when you’re actually out in the world shooting the thing. There are no guarantees in television, just like any other commercial creative art. But we’re in good shape at this point. Dario and I are talking a lot and agreeing on stuff. Next up, Dario writes the script, with me sitting on his shoulder screeching. Actually, trying not to screech, because if you don’t want your book adapted, you shouldn’t sell anyone the right to adapt it. At this point, though, I’m pretty involved in the adaptation, and having fun.

 

All of which is pretty good for a book that hasn’t been published yet.

At least we know what he's been up to instead of writing Fell. still, Crooked Little Vein was good (thanks again Panch/Space) so ill likely check this out.

[Panch]

Will be checkin this out. Love Ellis' twisted writing style. Wish they would adapt Crooked Little Vein, though. That would be a fucked up, awesome movie.

[Iambaytor]

They will strip this down like a nice car in a terrible neighborhood and warp it until it's so sanitized and lame that no one will ever know it was his.

[Panch]

You know... that sounds about right :/

[Jables]

See also: Wanted.

 

This is gonna be great.

[Iambaytor]

See also: Wanted.

 

See, that was the opposite problem. While Wanted bore little to no resemblance to the comic it was based on, it was just as f-word laden and retarded as anything Millar has ever done.