USA Network Orders ‘Masters Of Doom’ Pilot Produced By James & Dave Franco

[Linguica]

https://deadline.com/2019/06/usa-orders-masters-of-doom-pilot-based-book-james-franco-producing-1202638479/

 

Quote

USA Network has given a pilot order to Masters of Doom, a drama based on David Kushner’s nonfiction book, from James and Dave Franco’s Ramona Films, The Gotham Group and UCP. Masters of Doom is being eyed as an anthology series, with the first installment based on Kushner’s book, published by Random House in 2003.

 

Written and executive produced by WGA Award winner Tom Bissell (Gears of War), Masters of Doom is the true story of two computer geniuses in an obscure corner of America who, along with a group of rebellious misfits, created one of the biggest franchise hits of the 90s, the video game Doom. John Carmack and John Romero were best friends who became bitter rivals, as they created a video game empire and transformed pop culture forever.

 

Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Eric Robinson and Jeremy Bell executive produce via The Gotham Group, along with James Franco, Dave Franco, Vince Jolivette and Elizabeth Haggard of Ramona Films, and Kushner. D.J. Goldberg of The Gotham Group will serve as co-executive producer. UCP is the studio.

 

Masters of Doom falls into USA’s wheelhouse of “heroes, rebels & icons” as the network focuses on big stories about big American characters. Masters of Doom kicks off USA’s 2019 pilot cycle.

 

Bissell is a writer on the Gears of War, Battlefield, and Uncharted video game franchises and author of nine books, including Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter. He also co-authored the bestseller The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made. His short fiction has also been anthologized in multiple editions of the Best American Short Stories series.

Kushner, a contributing editor of Rolling Stone, is the author of six books, including his latest, The Players Ball.

 

Bissell is repped by LINK Entertainment and Morris Yorn. Kushner is repped by The Gotham Group and Hirsch Wallerstein. The Gotham Group is repped by WME and Nelson Davis.

 

[scalliano]

Couldn't be any worse than The Gamechangers...

[Bauul]

It's a pretty compelling story, if handled right I can see it being a good show. I'm pretty sure they won't particularly care about historical accuracy, which will likely annoy a few people here, but from a TV show point of view I can see why it would seem a good option to adapt.

[ant]

 

directly from Tom Hall! He is active in its comment sections and even answered me! :D

Edited June 27, 2019 by ant

[Reisal]

This series can only end in tears and criticism from the Doom community and gaming community in general..if they butcher it to fit a specific narrative. If they keep the narrative politics neutral and chock loaded with facts and information, then it should come out relatively to mostly positive to the community.

[Linguica]

 

[DooM_RO]

This could either be really good or really bad.

[Master O]

Knowing Hollywood, it will be terrible.  

[Miss Bubbles]

Masters of Doom is a great read and always felt like it would translate well into a movie or mini-series, so I can't help but be excited about this, but also my expectations are low lol.

[Count651]

I think I just shit myself..

 

Can't wait to see who they cast for Romero and Carmack

[silentzorah]

15 minutes ago, Count651 said:

I think I just shit myself..

 

Can't wait to see who they cast for Romero and Carmack

 

John Romero - Himself

[Jonathan]

Finally, my years of being too lazy to read Masters of Doom have paid off. I'm cautiously optimistic.

[Alexo]

Guys, Franco brothers are very good at staying true to source materials. Have faith that this will be a decent adaptation.

The big question is... who will play carmack? Will there be auditions? Asking for a friend... lol.

[xvertigox]

It'll be interesting no matter what. I, too, am cautiously optimistic but even if it turns out to be complete crap then meh whatever, it'll still be a novelty. I can see most people are managing their expectations well so it'll all probably work out.

[Chezza]

I look forward to this, as long as it's following the source material accurately.

[Swalzi]

There is an animated pilot of "Master of Doom" back in 2006 that never succeeded on Newgrounds.

I've never read the book, so I don't know if it's accurate to the source material.

Edited June 27, 2019 by Swalzi

[kmxexii]

hahahahahaha

[Triple_sSs]

Yeah, I'm cautiously optimistic as well. I've read Masters of Doom a few times already and it's a really good story, one that's well suited to an adaptation. I think it'd be fine as just a movie, but a series could work too I suppose. Hoping it'll be faithful to both the material and the facts.

Edited June 27, 2019 by Triple_sSs

[noisebloom]

If it's anything like The Disaster Artist, it'll be a winner. 

[DuckReconMajor]

I also recommend the book. It's one of about 2 or 3 books that I finished in like 1 sitting because I couldn't put it down. It's not too terribly long.

 

 

[Mk7_Centipede]

[Koko Ricky]

I feel like when it comes out, we're going to start a thread complaining about how inaccurate their depiction of 90s computer hardware/software is.

[elend]

3 hours ago, Armaetus said:

This series can only end in tears and criticism from the Doom community and gaming community in general..if they butcher it to fit a specific narrative. If they keep the narrative politics neutral and chock loaded with facts and information, then it should come out relatively to mostly positive to the community.

 

That was also the first thing I was thinking about. No matter what they'll do in this show, the Community will tear it apart, just how they did with Sigil.

Other than that, I must say, that I am looking forward to it. Having watched "Halt and Catch Fire" recently, I can see that you can make a compelling TV show out of this material and hope, that it is a good balance of realistic, with just enough artistic license to keep it interesting.

[Linguica]

17 minutes ago, elend said:

That was also the first thing I was thinking about. No matter what they'll do in this show, the Community will tear it apart, just how they did with Sigil.

 

[citation needed]

[Buckshot]

Should be interesting to see how it all comes together. Kind of hoping they do a "Pirates of Silicon Valley" style, but in a series. There's a lot of tense moments and internal conflict/drama throughout the novel to display along side all the personality, life and breakthrough achievements.

Also, while it's a very odd comparison i'm about to make since they aren't even in the same realm of relevance aside from being live action (though heavily exaggerated) documentaries, but looking at shows like "Narcos" which is focuses on the events and life surrounding the infamous Pablo Escobar, when they do these adaptions of real life history, events and persons involved, it can be done very (very) well when done right.

Edited June 28, 2019 by Buckshot

[noisebloom]

1 hour ago, GoatLord said:

I feel like when it comes out, we're going to start a thread complaining about how inaccurate their depiction of 90s computer hardware/software is.

 

YES 

[hardcore_gamer]

4 hours ago, silentzorah said:

 

John Romero - Himself

 

Is this true srs?

[geo]

1 hour ago, GoatLord said:

I feel like when it comes out, we're going to start a thread complaining about how inaccurate their depiction of 90s computer hardware/software is.

I'll tear it apart for not being the Doom novels. Space action TV series? Sounds expensive. Let's do a mini series about the making of Doom. Everybody loves the 90s. Look at how well American Crime Story is doing.

Edited June 28, 2019 by geo

[⇛Marnetmar⇛]

I look forward to the portrayal of Carmack's relationship with Mitzi. 

[xvertigox]

I've looked at this again and my hopes are sky high. The fact that it's written and produced by Tom Bissell who wrote The Disaster Artist book and produced by the Franco brothers is encouraging. The fact that they all treated the Disaster Artist source material with so much respect makes me think they'll do the same for Master of Doom. I hope the pilot gets picked, I imagine it will with these names behind it.

Edited June 28, 2019 by xvertigox