TWILIGHT Screenwriter To Bring Marvel Adaptation To TV
Melissa Rosenberg, the screenwriter of Twilight, is working on adapting a Marvel Character, AKA Jessica Jones, for her next TV project.
Rosenberg will not only write, but also be executive producer on the series in development for fall 2011 at ABC. Incredible Hulk is also in it's early stages at ABC, but this new show is close enough to being signed that it will likely be Marvel Television's first official project the network.
This series will also launch Rosenberg's Tall Girls Prods. banner. She is a former executive producer on Dexter is starting Tall Girls with the goal of creating and producing projects featuring large, complex female roles.
AKA Jessica Jones is one of Marvel's Max line of more mature comicbook titles. The story follows a superhero names "Jewell" who is forced to retire after having post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by her lifestyle of fighting crime. She goes by the name Jessica Jones and is in her early 30's and runs a detective agency. Once she settles down, she realizes she still has a drive to help people -- and finds herself assisting other superheroes.
It is reported that Rosenberg connected with the Jessica Jones because she is unlike most female leading roles on network TV: deeply flawed but with a biting sense of humor.
Marvel TV's Jeph Loeb, Marvel Entertainment chief creative officer Joe Quesada and Marvel Worldwide's Alan Fine; 3 Arts Entertainment's Howard Klein ("Parks and Recreation") are also sharing exec producer duties.
Brian Michael Bendis, creator of the character and comicbook series on which the show is based (along with Michael Gaydos) will serve as a consultant. The comic book series launched in November 2001, was titled "Alias" -- but ABC obviously can't use that title, given the completely unrelated Jennifer Garner series of the same name.
ABC is currently working to mine the Marvel library since the two are Disney siblings. With Loeb joining the company over the summer, Marvel has also aggressively been pursuing the series business.
Hulk is still moving forward from Guillermo del Toro and David Eick at ABC. ABC Family is considering an adaptation of "Cloak and Dagger."
Despite only being 2-years old, Marvel TV's animation division has a number of projects in the pipeline. They are working now on Cartoon Network's "Super Hero Squad" and just debuted "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" for boy-centric cabler Disney XD. The channel is where Marvel's next big project, "Ultimate Spider-Man," will land. Disney Channel execs recently said they hope to create a Marvel-branded programming block on Disney by 2012.
The goal with this series is to develop a femme-centric superhero franchise that will attract both fanboys and women. The CW plans to turn DC's "Raven" into an hourlong, while David E. Kelley continues to kick around a rework of "Wonder Woman."
Rosenberg wrote the screenplays to Twilight, Twilight Saga: New Moon, Twilight Saga: Eclipse and the two upcoming Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn movies. In TV, Rosenberg was an exec producer on Dexter and also worked on series such as Love Monkey, The OC, Ally McBeal and Party of Five.