Toronto’s Globe and Mail is reporting that Stephen King has signed a deal with Canada’s E1 Entertainment to produce a television series (to be called Haven) based on his novella “The Colorado Kid”. The reason this deal is attracting attention is, as the Globe and Mail says, that King took his concept outside the US in order to retain more control over the series. Rather than producing under the current model (making just a few episodes to see if a new series can draw an audience), King and E1 will make an entire season (consisting of 13 one-hour episodes) before trying to sell it to broadcasters.
Peter Emerson, president of E1’s television division, said King “had his reason. He might have been disillusioned a little with the development process in the US. He wants to be able to do it without putting it through a studio that’s going to pay 100 per cent of it and consequently have that control.” Normal development deals go through a studio because of the funding necessary. E1 couldn’t bankroll 13 episodes of what is expected to be a $2 million dollar per episode show, so the company has signed a co-financing/acquisition deal with Universal Networks International (NBC Universal’s global channel division). UNI will take the rights to show Haven on pay-television channels outside North American and Scandinavia. E1 will try to sell the show in North America.
King is not commenting on the deal, although the Globe and Mail notes that King’s agent, Creative Artists Agency, first approached E1 about the project last year.
The Hollywood Reporter says that production is scheduled to start early next year, for a hope-for Fall 2010 airdate. The drama “will portray a small Maine town where the cursed attempt to lead normal lives as FBI agent Audrey Parker investigates supernatural forces that threaten to unravel the many mysteries of Haven.”
“The Colorado Kid” was first published as a stand-alone book by pulp-esque paperback publisher Hard Case Crime in 2005.