So January is the beginning of what — in the accursed, eternally burning nation of TV-land — is known as pilot season. That’s when the networks pick some of the series they have in development and greenlight them, meaning they’re actually going to cast and film a pilot episode.
It’s an exciting time. Except if your series doesn’t get greenlit.
The Magicians show was not greenlit.
This is a hard post to write. I’m really, really disappointed. I also feel bad that I got everybody excited about the project, only to have it immediately fail. I promise you — and I can’t stress this enough — I wouldn’t have done that unless I had some very good reasons to think that the show would in fact be greenlit. In fact I’m pretty stunned that it wasn’t.
I guess those reasons weren’t ironclad. Or maybe they were ironclad but not, I don’t know, adamantium-clad.
At any rate, clearly there was an issue with the cladding.
I don’t have a lot of good information as to why it didn’t happen. I don’t deal with network directly, and even beyond that the networks are pretty black-box about stuff like this: they don’t give out a lot of detail about their decision-making process. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that it has something to do with Terra Nova not doing as well as Fox hoped, so they weren’t anxious to go for another high-profile, high-concept, expensive genre show.
But that’s just speculation. I can’t imagine The Magicians would have been as expensive as Terra Nova. For one thing there aren’t half as many acceraptors in it.
Anyway.
From here the way forward for the show gets rockier, obviously. We’re going to take the script to cable networks. We’re also going to renew talks on the feature-film side. I can’t say I’m bitter about it. I wouldn’t have played my cards differently — we got exactly the right people and exactly the right script. It would have been incredible. It still will be, if we can get it to go somewhere else.
But no question, it’s a big disappointment. We had a really good shot this time, and it didn’t work out.
Tags: first world problems
That just sucks! Would have loved to have Brakebills and Fillory seen on TV. Hope the cable networks would have this.
So sad. I was really looking forward to this!
Anyways, I’m a huge fan of the series (along with everybody else) and an aspiring writer (along with everybody else). If you ever decide to take an intern, I’ll be looking for employment/slave labor in about a year as a recent post-grad, and I’d love nothing more than to read and write and fetch coffee.
Would not the format of a feature film work better anyway???
If it’s an consolation, many young people I know have nothing but netflix anyway. I know you had your heart set on Fox, but seriously, we’re all going to be watching no matter what network it’s on. Good luck!
Sorry, dude. Was looking forward to bribing you to win the VFX contract, too… Crossing my fingers for cable – you know, I’ve heard Speed is looking to go geek…
well im sad. But maybe in the end its a good thing. FOX is known for dropping good shows like flies. With Game of Thrones becoming popular. And True Blood being a hit, maybe its better if the series went on the cable. HBO is also making Dark Towers and American Gods into series.
So I bet other cable companies will look for their original and good (dark) fantasy show.
This sounds like a project that NetFlix or similar might be willing to get into. You’ve probably approached, but if not, give them a try. Would love to see the books on the little or big screen!
I think Fancy Cable would work better for The Magicians in all honesty. They’re just clamoring to make as many books into TV shows as they possibly can.
Ouch! I’m sorry things didn’t work out with the networks, but I will hope for better news with the cable networks. I’m sure you’ll be able to coax them into bringing the Magicians to the screen. If all else fails, you could deploy Julia’s nonmagical power. Wield it with an iron fist!
Seriously, I would love to see a series or film, but I doubt any medium can bring these characters and themes to life better than your novels already have.
burberry bags…
[...]This Is a Hard Post to Write « Lev Grossman[...]…
[...] it any easier. (Lev Grossman—who, full disclosure, works with me at TIME—recently blogged about Fox passing on the pilot script for a TV version of his epic fantasy novel The Magicians. I haven’t seen the script and [...]
Try Syfy, but don’t let them cheap out on you. You don’t want them turning “The Magicians” into another “Riverworld” or “Dinocroc vs. Supergator.” And for heaven’s sake, make sure they don’t try to compress it into too few episodes to actually tell and savor the story. “The Magicians” should be a flagship series.
I understand the disappointment. I hope it might make the author feel just the littlest bit better to know that there are readers–me among them–who dread a favorite book, so vivid and specific in one’s own imagination, being made into a tv show or film. I’m glad I get to keep “The Magicians” as it exists on the page and in my head just a little longer. And you know what? I bet I’m far from the only one.
[...] = true; s.src = 'http://widgets.digg.com/buttons.js'; s1.parentNode.insertBefore(s, s1); })(); Some unfortunate news from Grossman this morning: So January is the beginning of what — in the accursed, eternally [...]
I agree with the past few people, in that, I would hate to see such a rich piece of literature(and that is exactly as I see it) to be half-assed. When something else does come along… Suggest open auditions! I’m a young actor, and it would be dynamite to be a part of these books on screen. I think great success could come from new faces, much like they did with Girl with the Dragon Tattoo… Though, come to think of it… Roonie Mara would be a pretty stellar Julia… Though she is a bit old for the part… Anyway. Rant over. Good luck, can’t wait for the next book!
I’m teaching 80 students right now. Two of them watch non-recorded television. I really want both books to be made into a series of movies. They deserve no less.
This is really something!
I think this would be a better script for a movie series anyway. I always hate when television has to drag out books and add stories that were not intended to be there. Take it to the silver screen!
p.s. I LOVE the books
As I read “Magicians” the first time, I envisioned it as a movie. I gave actors, real or fictional, to each of the characters. I imagined the landscape, the faces of the characters when they said nothing, the cuts of the camera from sentence to sentence. I fell in love with it. It was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Lots of depth, great story, and it was told well visually.
This book deserves a film. It deserves a film from a director and a producer who see the vision of the book. Who have read the book 10 times, who know it by heart. And most importantly, they must understand the nuances of the silence, and put that in screen as often as possible.
Just finished listening to The Magicians on audio book and kept thinking to myself “I wonder if anyone has thought of adapting this to the screen.” Sorry to hear it hasn’t worked out thus far. Good luck in getting there eventually! I look forward to picking up The Magician King next.
It saddens me that it wont be happening. I must say that i loved the series and even concocted a sound track for The Magicians movie, including “Uprising” by Muse for the battle against Martin and “Hotel California” for the bar in Fillory.
..and also “Madness” by Muse for when Quentin loses Alice…