A TV show based on my Midnighters trilogy might be an actual thing.
Here’s the scoop from Deadline:
A year after Chuck ended its run, the cult dramedy’s creators Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz have reunited for Midnighters, a drama based on the Alloy sci-fi/fantasy book trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. This time, Fedak is the sole writer on the project, which is being produced by Schwartz and Stephanie Savage’s Fake Empire, Alloy Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. Midnighters, which has received a script commitment, is a drama centered on a small group of people all born at the stroke of midnight who have access to the 25th hour of the day. Fedak, Schwartz and Savage executive produce with Fake Empire’s Len Goldstein and Alloy’s Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo. The Midnighters book series includes The Secret Hour (2004), Touching Darkness (2005) and Blue Noon (2006).
Of course, a “script commitment” means exactly that: a commitment that a script will get written. If this script isn’t good, that will be that. But if it’s good, then you’d get a pilot commitment, and if that’s good, some episodes . . . and thus you’d have a TV SHOW!
But when?
Well, TV moves faster than publishing. So if things work out, we could be seeing an actual Midnighters show a year from now, along with the other new shows of 2013.
Do I have any involvement with this? No one’s asked me to help. (I have less control over Midnighters than my other “properties,” for reasons too boring to go into here.) But I will be snarking from the sidelines, at least.
Some of you may remember that the Midnighters TV show was a thing back in 2007. They wanted to age the characters up to their “mid- to late-twenties,” which I thought was a silly idea, and wrote this blog post about it.
But that version didn’t happen, like most things don’t happen. (Look out your window, As you can see, no plane crash just happened. Proof that MOST THINGS DON’T HAPPEN.*) And hopefully, there will be no aging up of Dess, Rex, Jonathan, Melissa, and Jessica in this version either.
Because 25-year-olds sneaking out at midnight—not magical.
Luckily, I’ve heard that Chuck was a cool show. I’ll be taking a look at it, and will report back.
Watch this space for details about Mid-TV and all of my other “properties.” (Seriously, that’s what they call them in Hollywood. It’s like they’re playing Monopoly.)
In the meantime, let’s look at some lovely Midnighters fan art of yesteryear.
__________
*If a plane crash did just happen out your window, that was spooky, and kind of tasteless of me. Sorry.
By Shira-chan!
By scotty9539! (no relation)
w00t! 1st comment! and i love the fact that Scott’s finally being recognized in the media! ok, now i just need to read the whole Midnighters series before October 2013… no biggie.
2nd comment yay:)
I hope they do it justice!
If the Midnighters really do come out as a TV show, that’s so cool.
But I’ve noticed that always in movies or TV shows, the actors are actually much older than the real characters. So maybe even if they aren’t in their mid-twenties, they might not be teens :/
And this isn’t very cool, but about the sentence about the monopoly stuff, it’s they’re not their.
If Midnighters actually becomes a TV show and they do it right it will make my life. I LOVE that book series!!!! <3
Woohoo! I definitely prefer books becoming TV shows over movies, so much more space to work with and less cutting out of scenes and characters. I hope the show doesn’t age up the characters either, there have been successful shows done with teenage characters before so I can’t see why this can’t work with this show. Also adults sneaking out at midnight would be kind of silly, and not so magical.
in related news, i have a new favourite TV show.
i really like the idea, as other seem to, of this becoming a TV show. i have a few questions on whether or not they’ll start at the beginning of book one and work there way through book 3 and then end the show, or if theyll contine it after that, or if an entirely new plot will be invented.
i’ve never read a book that became a TV show, so this is entirely new for me.
i’d rather have 20-somethings playing 20-somethings than them playing teens. Midnighters will NOT become GLee!
Oh. My. God. This just changed MY WHOLE LIFE~!
I would totally watch it! But probably not at midnight though. That would be a bit creepy.
A plane literally flew over my house at the exact second I read the sentence about the plane crash. (It didn’t thankfully crash. But it was kinda creepy.)
I would love to see Midnighters turned into a TV show!
Wow, I was just talking to one of my friends about a month ago about some of our favorite books that we’d like to see turned into movies. When The Midnighters came up I mentioned that, although I’m usually not a fan of TV shows based off of books, I thought that a Midnighters TV show could work really well.
Such good news! So excite! I hope you get to be involved with the writing, Scott, at least to some extent, because unless they’re going to do BBC-sized seasons, there’s going to have to be quite a few filler episodes/arcs in order for it to last any length of time, and I think you should be able to give some input as to what they add. That way, it’ll be closer to the feel of the original series (can I call it canon in this case…? I feel like yes.) and we don’t get a bunch of over dramatic teenage angst, which we get enough of in the canon and in, you know, every other young adult television show ever.
EXCITE.
Chuck was amazing and I am sure that in his hands Midnighters will be an instant hit! If not I will personally find a way to write, direct, and produce the TV shows.
Yaaaaay! All my TV shows have just ended (either for the season or for who-knows-however-long). I really, really, really want Midnighters to be a TV show. But a good one, like, a really good one, not just mediocer?
That was not ment to be a question.
I loooovvvveeee the midnighters and think the show should be a hit
My friend Micah has this plan to somehow sneak our way onto set to be extras…
those drawings are so cool
Kinda sad that you’re the original creator yet are totally out of the loop for stuff, hope everything works out well regardless!
I read this, dropped my phone, and gave a ecstatic fangirl scream that I didn’t know I was capable of. My mom thought I saw a spider. :/ Anyways… OH. MY. GOSH. My life has changed forever. Seriously. I cannot describe just how excited/happy/spazzed I am right now. I REALLY hope this succeeds!!! And seriously? Mid-to-late-twenties??? Come on, television producers, there are too many reasons to list in this comment for keeping the characters at their proper age. Oh well, adult Midnighters are better than no Midnighters! Can’t wait for more info on this!!! =DDD
If this happened, I WOULD BE SO HAPPY. Midnighters is one of my favorite series. I would love to see it turned into a television series. 🙂
I want to see Rex! <3
Thats awesome fot you, Scott! And I’ve watched Chuck (if it’s the same chuck…. but how many shows are named “chuck?”) It is an awesome show!
I REALLY hope this happens!!! That would be the best! I Though I still am dying for an Uglies film!!!
I agree, when they make characters older than in the book it ruins it. Just watch The Lightning Thief. And I haven’t read Midnighters, but does this mean maybe there could be a Leviathan movie in the near future since you’re getting more involved in the media? (You did say this stuff was pretty much out of your control, but that’s beside the point.)
Ramdomish: And you should license Leviathan to Lego!! Seriously. That would be so barking awesome.
Ooh, awesome! I just wish they would include the authors more. After all, it’s *their* precious (or however you want to think of your books XD).
@24: That would be awesome. I have posed this question before, but: Anyone for a Leviathan musical? And, no, I don’t mean like Legally Blonde/ Annie/ etc. I mean something on the scale of Les Miserables, in three parts of course. Only me want to see a Leviathan musical?
Also, @24, my DVD of the Lightning Thief is in pieces in the trash. My family cared so much about it that we laughed when we realized that my sister had broken apart. Talk about an awful movie….(my opinion)
@24- oll that’d be bubbly i’d buy those legos probably..
Oh my Rowling! This is epic news!!!!!
This years been a good year for new shows!
Revolution
666
Arrow
Let’s cross our fingers that we can add midnighters to the list next year! 🙂
@24&25, genius! i shall no longer be an impulse buyer. i shall sacrifice this habit to the cause of Leviathan LEGO and a Leviathan Musical. yes, Middy K, i think that a musical would be awesome. i’ve never seen Les Miserables, but i haven’t heard anything negative about it ever so i’m okay with it. complete with Steampunk-y crank organs, too, of course. i don’t know why, but i always imagined someone in the street playing a crank organ for money…
Oh wow! That is soo awesome~! I need to like read Midnighters soon then, (been meaning to but I keep rereading Uglies), haha~! xD
RECOGNIZED!!!!
Good for you Sir Westerfeld!
Might have to read the books then…
*Please let there be a Leviathan movie now…*
Awesome news that your work can be adapted and broadcasted to a wider audience… Again, more chance of a director picking up Leviathan. 😀
Wow Mr. Westerfeld, that’s amazing! I’ve never actually read Midnighters, and I probably won’t anytime soon since I’m trying to tackle Les Mis and my boyfriends younger brother is throwing books at me. But the fact that there is the possibility of one of your books becoming a TV show is amazing! I’ll definitly tune in every week if this becomes a reality.
This is motivating me to actually read Midnighters.
@ 32: You’re reading Les Mis? Me too! Isn’t it amazing! I’m trying to finish it before the movie comes out….
yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀 YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Midnighters books are my favourite books ever. Pretty sure Dess and Jonathan are the reason I’m most the way through a math/physics degree 🙂 I really hope this works out.
The whole TV show is pretty cool but I haven’t read Midnighters and probably never will so sorry to be a kill joy but yeah. Sigh.
My god. This will make my life, should it actually happen and should the TV people not ruin the characters.
I also sincerely hope they don’t make my beloved midnighters fight crime, as they would have in the 2007 show.
Because Jonathan arresting himself would make very little sense.
@25: (#1) I think a very well-done musical would be awesome. And I can’t get the image of Volger singing and dancing out of my head. That would be hilarious.
@25: (#2) I saw the Lightning Thief in my middle school L.A. class. I didn’t like it because the plot was so different from the book, and the protagonist actors were in their mid-twenties, it seemed. I hate it when movies of books incorporate some weird plot into the story while dumbing-down and simplifying the original story structure.
@26: I would definitely buy ALL of them. 😀
@ 39: The Lightning Thief movie shrivels even more now with The Mark of Athena….
A midnighters tv show !! That would be so awsome . But how would the story continue if Jessica is trapped in the midnight hour. Or would it start from the beginning ? On an unrelated note there is a barking spiders pub that i have seen In my area
Spoils sorry
a pub called Barking Spiders??? ooh, i can see that working: The Barking Spider Bar and Grill! where’s this Barking awesome Barking Spiders place?
That’s cool. I liked Midnighters, although the ending kinda depressed me. It also left me thinking it would be cool if you returned to the characters ten years later and picked up with them for another story. But yeah, trying to tell this story about 25-year-olds just wouldn’t work. Not that that’ll stop them from casting people in their twenties anyway, but hopefully it’ll at least be 20-somethings who look like teenagers.
@44 I found the end of the series funny. Everyone was moping/thinking about how screwed up their lives were, and then there was Dess, musing about how math is so coll and how she’s going to make a ton of money programming computers and stuff.
somewhat randomly, i found this really cool/weird essay online. it kind of reminded me of Uglies in a strange way- but instead of everyone being “Ugly” and becoming “Pretty”, everyone has to be “normal” with no skills, talent, or superiority over one another. those with beauty are forced to wear horrible stuff; cleaver-boots wear mental hadicapping devices. i think it’s a great thing for considering all sorts of moral and ethical stuff. i won’t spoil all of it with my views, though, you’ll just have to enjoy it yourself! maybe we’ll all have a Rights movement together after reading this… what have i just started?
http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html
@ 41 & 43: LOL That made my day. XD
@46- wow, that story was really good. its really sad though…
also, to whoever recommended the book thief, its really cool I love how the first chapter is called death and chocolate so yea thx
So one of the things I do when I’m bored on the internet is look up the meaning of names. I looked up Deryn and the website said it came from the Welsh word “aderyn” meaning bird.
@49: Ooh, I know! Her name means ‘bird’…. (Scott, was that planned?) And any for of ‘Alexander’ means ‘defender of men.’ And I’m pretty sure Alek’s is the Slavic version? Someone correct me? Anyway, it’s extremely difficult for me to type or write any other form of ‘Aleksandar’ or ‘Alek.’ (And I will leave it there because I don;t want to dredge up that other books series again, thank you.)
By the way, did you know that Adela Rogers was born a year before Dr. Barlow? (Unless my sources were false.)
Mostly, though, when I get bored a feel like googling things I look up Franz and Sophie because they are so cute….