MediaSavant
01-29-2004, 04:15 AM
Jan. 29, 2004
'Rex' to roam Earth in Sci Fi project
By Nellie Andreeva *Hollywood Reporter*
After more than three years of development, Sci Fi Channel has given the green light to "Anonymous Rex," a two-hour backdoor pilot/movie based on Eric Garcia's series of books, and has commissioned two more scripts from the Fox TV Studios-produced project.
Julian Jarrold (BBC/PBS' "Great Expectations") has been tapped to direct the pilot from a script by Joe Menosky (UPN's "Star Trek: Voyager"). Production is slated to begin in March.
Garcia's "Rex" comedic mystery novels center on Vincent Rubio, a high-tech private investigator who, along with hundreds of others on Earth, are in fact dinosaurs (in his case, Velociraptor). They never became extinct. Instead, they have evolved to be 6 feet tall and have integrated themselves into modern society by disguising themselves with human-looking latex costumes.
"Rex" has been a passion project for Sci Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer for five years, since she read the first book in the series, 1999's "Anonymous Rex."
"Rex" was first put in development at the cable channel in 2000 with Alliance Atlantis attached to produce (HR 11/17).
When Mark Stern joined Sci Fi as executive vp original programming a year ago, he brought in a new writer, Menosky, and a new producer, Fox TV Studios.
"It feels like this is the time for this concept to come to fruition," Stern said. "I think the technology is really in the right place, and we can execute the dinosaurs and the fantasy elements in the right way for the money."
It was Menosky's idea to base the pilot not on "Anonymous Rex" but on the second book in the series, the "Anonymous" prequel, "Casual Rex," which made the pilot "much cleaner and more understandable," Stern said.
"More than anything else, Joe has the right voice and the right viewpoint and the right approach that delivered on the promise of the books," added Stern, who described "Anonymous Rex" as having "elements of 'Men in Black.' "
David Madden, Fox TV Studios executive vp movies and miniseries, used another analogy.
"It is halfway between 'X-Files' on the dark series end and 'Buffy' on the more tongue-in-cheek end," he said.
For the past several months, the studio worked on finding a director and developing the show's visual look, which will involve CG animation as well as some prosthetic and animatronic effects.
"This is a very ambitious thing to do for television," Madden said. "We're putting dinosaurs onscreen -- that's daunting."
'Rex' to roam Earth in Sci Fi project
By Nellie Andreeva *Hollywood Reporter*
After more than three years of development, Sci Fi Channel has given the green light to "Anonymous Rex," a two-hour backdoor pilot/movie based on Eric Garcia's series of books, and has commissioned two more scripts from the Fox TV Studios-produced project.
Julian Jarrold (BBC/PBS' "Great Expectations") has been tapped to direct the pilot from a script by Joe Menosky (UPN's "Star Trek: Voyager"). Production is slated to begin in March.
Garcia's "Rex" comedic mystery novels center on Vincent Rubio, a high-tech private investigator who, along with hundreds of others on Earth, are in fact dinosaurs (in his case, Velociraptor). They never became extinct. Instead, they have evolved to be 6 feet tall and have integrated themselves into modern society by disguising themselves with human-looking latex costumes.
"Rex" has been a passion project for Sci Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer for five years, since she read the first book in the series, 1999's "Anonymous Rex."
"Rex" was first put in development at the cable channel in 2000 with Alliance Atlantis attached to produce (HR 11/17).
When Mark Stern joined Sci Fi as executive vp original programming a year ago, he brought in a new writer, Menosky, and a new producer, Fox TV Studios.
"It feels like this is the time for this concept to come to fruition," Stern said. "I think the technology is really in the right place, and we can execute the dinosaurs and the fantasy elements in the right way for the money."
It was Menosky's idea to base the pilot not on "Anonymous Rex" but on the second book in the series, the "Anonymous" prequel, "Casual Rex," which made the pilot "much cleaner and more understandable," Stern said.
"More than anything else, Joe has the right voice and the right viewpoint and the right approach that delivered on the promise of the books," added Stern, who described "Anonymous Rex" as having "elements of 'Men in Black.' "
David Madden, Fox TV Studios executive vp movies and miniseries, used another analogy.
"It is halfway between 'X-Files' on the dark series end and 'Buffy' on the more tongue-in-cheek end," he said.
For the past several months, the studio worked on finding a director and developing the show's visual look, which will involve CG animation as well as some prosthetic and animatronic effects.
"This is a very ambitious thing to do for television," Madden said. "We're putting dinosaurs onscreen -- that's daunting."