SCI FI'S '06 PRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT SLATE TO BE CHANNEL'S
STRONGEST EVER
REALITY FARE INCLUDES WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO? WITH STAN LEE,
MEDIUM AT LARGE WITH PSYCHIC CHAR MARGOLIS, AND
COMPETITION/ELIMINATION SERIES THE GIFT
SCRIPTED PILOT DEVELOPMENT TEAMS SCI FI WITH SEAN HAYES, RONALD D.
MOORE, AND INCLUDES ADAPTATION OF FEATURE FILM THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
SCI FI SOLIDIFIES PARTNERSHIP WITH NBC NEWS PRODUCTIONS WITH SPECIALS
AND NEW INVESTIGATIVE SERIES
Pasadena, CA - January 12, 2006 - SCI FI Channel has an aggressive
production and development slate for the new year that includes both
scripted and reality projects with top Hollywood talent and production
companies including Stan Lee, Sean Hayes, Ronald D. Moore, Nash
Entertainment, and NBC Universal Television Studios, it was announced
today at the Television Critics Press Tour.
On the reality front, SCI FI has recruited legendary superhero comic
creator Stan Lee and Bruce Nash to embark on a nationwide search for
the first-ever, true-life superhero in WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO?
The Channel will also try to find America's most talented, homegrown
psychic in THE GIFT, while MEDIUM AT LARGE captures renowned celebrity
psychic Char Margolis living her everyday life with an extraordinary
talent. All three projects will premiere this year.
SCI FI continues to attract top Hollywood talent developing scripted
projects including THE BRIDGE with producers Sean Hayes (Will & Grace)
and Todd Milliner, and a television pilot based on the feature film
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT. It also extends its successful relationship with
Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica) on his new pilot project
WAREHOUSE 13.
"We are very excited to be in business with such top creative talent.
These new projects will help us build on our most successful year to
date, and continue to broaden the scope and appeal of the channel.
They also represent our clear commitment to reality programming as a
means of reaching a new and younger audience; something we've already
had great success with on our series 'Ghost Hunters,'" said Mark
Stern, SCI FI Channel's Executive Vice President of Original
Programming.
2006 Alternative/Reality Series
WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO?
SCI FI Channel, teamed with Bruce Nash's Nash Entertainment (Meet My
Folks, For Love or Money, Who Wants to Marry My Dad?) and legendary
comic book creator Stan Lee (Spider-Man, Hulk, The Fantastic Four,
X-Men), will produce a six-episode, one-hour weekly competition
reality series that will challenge a lucky few to create their very
own superhero and reward the winner with the best reality competition
prize yet: immortality! All you'll need is an original idea, a killer
costume and some real superhero mojo. The winner of this six-week
competition will walk away with their superhero immortalized in a new
comic book created by Stan Lee himself!
In nationwide open casting calls, potential heroes will arrive in
costume to prove their mettle ? revealing the true nature of their
superhuman abilities and invoking the noble credos by which they live.
From these thousands of hopefuls, Stan Lee will choose 11 lucky
finalists to move into a secret lair and compete for the opportunity
to become a real-life Superhero!
Finalists will leave their former lives behind and live as their
brainchild heroes 24/7, all under Stan Lee's watchful eye. Each week,
our aspiring heroes will be challenged with competitions designed to
test their true superhero abilities. It's not all just leaping tall
buildings in a single bound, a true Superhero will be tested for
courage, integrity, self-sacrifice, compassion and resourcefulness. In
the end, only one aspiring Superhero will have the strength and
nobility to open the gates to comic book immortality.
MEDIUM AT LARGE
Char Margolis is a psychic of international renown. With an impressive
list of fans, from Larry King and Regis Philbin to law enforcement
officials, Char offers personal psychic readings that often have the
ability to transform even the most steadfast of skeptics into true
believers. Now, Char will be bringing her remarkable talents and
unique life to SCI FI Channel for a six-episode, half-hour reality
series produced in association with Stuart Krasnow (Average Joe, Dog
Eat Dog), Krasnow Productions and FreemantleMedia North America.
In Medium at Large, Char will provide impromptu on-the-street
readings, giving some unsuspecting folks astounding psychic
revelations. She will also be doing home visits, helping people with
unresolved issues find closure with lost loved ones. In addition to
sharing her methods to help viewers at home develop their own
abilities, she will share her unique life. What is it like to go on a
blind date with a psychic? How do you prepare for a stint on Larry
King's show when the make-up artist asks for a reading moments before
airtime?
THE GIFT
Have you ever thought of someone moments before the phone rang only to
hear their voice on the other line? Have you ever had a premonition
something would happen and it does? Have you ever experienced d?j? vu?
Some people believe that the intuition we all have is a basic level of
psychic ability inherent in all people and that these skills can be
further developed through proper training. Executive produced by Tony
Krantz (24) and Victoria Holt, The Gift, a unique six-episode,
one-hour weekly reality series will delve into the world of psychic
phenomena in a way never seen before.
After testing the baseline psychic abilities of people throughout the
country, eight contestants will be selected to participate in an
emotionally intense "boot camp for intuitives." Run by the world's
greatest psychics, our finalists will compete against each other in a
series of gripping challenges devised to test their growing abilities.
One-by-one, they will be eliminated to reveal a final gifted,
metaphysical winner. But then again, they already know they're going
to win! Or do they?
Scripted Development
THE BRIDGE
From executive producers Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) and Todd Milliner
under their production banner Hazy Mills Productions, The Bridge is a
dramedy in the vein of Defending Your Life and Wings of Desire in
which a group of cynical, flawed souls are trapped in purgatory and
must affect positive changes on the living in order to earn their way
out. The project is written by Julia Dahl (The West Wing, Party of
Five).
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
Based on the 2004 feature film of the same name starring Ashton
Kutcher, The Butterfly Effect is about a man who discovers he has the
ability to go back in time and change the course of events for himself
and others, though not always for the better. NBC Universal Television
Studio is producing with FilmEngine's Anthony Rhulen and AJ Dix, and
Benderspink's Chris Bender and J.C. Spink serving as executive
producers.
WAREHOUSE 13
Continuing its strong creative relationship with Ronald D. Moore
(Battlestar Galactica), SCI FI is developing a new series project with
the prolific producer/writer titled Warehouse 13. After bungling a
government case, a federal forensic accountant and an assistant U.S.
attorney are banished to Warehouse 13, a storage facility in nowhere
North Dakota, where they must spend their days cataloguing thousands
of artifacts, relics and other odd detritus collected by our
government over the centuries. They quickly discover that each strange
item has a story...and often the stories involve the supernatural, the
extra-terrestrial, the fantastic and/or the downright bizarre.
Executive produced by Moore, the project will be written by D. Brent
Mote (Atomic Train). NBC Universal Television Studio is producing
through a previously announced overall production deal with Ronald D.
Moore.
Investigative Series and Specials
Following SCI FI's successful Special, The Bermuda Triangle: Startling
New Secrets, the Channel will partner with NBC News Productions on a
new investigative series, SCI FI INVESTIGATES as well as several
2-hour Specials.
SCI FI Investigates (working title), a real-life X-Files, will
aggressively explore the mysterious, wondrous and unexplained of our
world. Capitalizing on the experience and resources of NBC News
Productions, the series and its team of investigators will seek to
uncover new evidence by using the latest forensic technology to reveal
new perspectives on world-renowned mysteries.
In addition, several stand-alone two-hour Specials are in the works
with NBC News Productions including THE TOP 10 WAYS THE WORLD COULD
END TOMORROW, in which potential scenarios for the earth's next mass
extinction, as well as potential solutions, will be explored, and
ATLANTIS, examining the celebrated lost civilization, which, according
to Plato, disappeared beneath the ocean waves nearly 12,000 years ago.
SCI FI Channel is a television network where "what if" is what's on.
SCI FI fuels the imagination of viewers with original series and
events, blockbuster movies and classic science fiction and fantasy
programming, as well as a dynamic Web site (www.scifi.com) and
magazine. Launched in 1992, and currently in 85 million homes, SCI FI
Channel is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading
media and entertainment companies.