Trent Reznor Developing new Grim Sci-Fi Series for HBO - YEAR ZERO
Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor is developing a new TV series for HBO called Year Zero. The new series is described as a grim and dark sci-fi epic that Reznor's chronicled in his music. He also wants to use Steven Spielberg's Alternate Reality Game from the movie A.I. for inspiration, the game was created by 42 Entertainment
He recently told The LA Times the following,
We are in [the development phase of] pre-production with HBO and BBC [Worldwide Productions] to do a miniseries. It’s exciting. I probably shouldn’t say too much about it except that I understand that there’s a thousand hurdles before anything shows up in your TV listing. It’s been an interesting and very educational process and it cleared the HBO hurdle a few months ago and now we’re writing drafts back and forth. So it’s very much alive and incubating at the moment.
Reznor is working with producer Lawernce Bender on the project. This is the same producer that's worked on films such as Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, Reservoir Dogs, An Inconvenient Truth and a few other projects. It was also revealed that they brought on Carnivale writer Daniel Knauf to write for the new series. Carnivale was a great series that we will never get closure on!
There really isn't much information revealed on the new project, but he goes on to talk about that the idea was built around negative emotion and sonic experimentation.
How could I express what I was feeling in a way that didn’t sound like bitching about George Bush? I mean, you know, I love Neil Young but I didn’t want to listen to that record, really,” he said, referring to the singer-songwriter’s “Living with War.” “My reaction to that kind of record is, ‘We know this. It’s obvious.’
So it started with me trying to write it as a piece of fiction. I was thinking, ‘It could be the worst idea ever in the world but, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t have to come out.’ I started by writing a kind of world bible about what life would be like around 15 or 20 years from now if things continue on the same path. I spent a few weeks filling it in with the events that could lead to this kind of time and place. Then as an experiment I started writing songs about people in this place and from different points of view.
This grew into what will eventually be a series on HBO. He is looking to get a two-year limited series, which he prefers over a film.
I just pitched it to HBO two weeks ago in L.A. It went great. Ideally, we’re trying to get them to do a two-year limited series. I prefer that over a film. We would have a second ARG tying into the second album and ties into the series and they all happen together with a budget needed to pull that all off. There would be a tour down the road. The record completes the story, the ending that no one knows. I know what happens. I knew when I started it. And it’s not what people think.
What do you all think about Reznor doing this new sci-fi series for HBO?