Image Comics' "Gideon Falls" Acquired for TV Adaptation

Hivemind Acquires Hit Comic Series GIDEON FALLS for TV Adaptation Following Multi-Studio Bidding War

New Company from Veteran Producers Sean Daniel, Jason Brown, and Kathy Lingg Adds Co-President Dinesh Shamdasani; Scores Hit Comic Franchise from New York Times Bestselling Author Jeff Lemire and Superstar Artist Andrea Sorrentino

PORTLAND, OR — Hivemind announced that it has won an intense multi-studio bidding war and acquired the rights to bring the hit Image Comics comic book series, GIDEON FALLS, to television in partnership with co-creators Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino. Hivemind's Jason Brown, Sean Daniel, Kathy Lingg, and Dinesh Shamdasani will executive produce the series alongside co-creators Lemire and Sorrentino with high-level creative talent already circling the project.

An atmospheric thriller colliding rural mystery and urban horror, the series follows an ensemble cast of seemingly random strangers—a washed-up Catholic priest, an uncompromising female sheriff, and a young recluse obsessed with unraveling a conspiracy buried in his city’s trash—as they become drawn into a mystery connected to a long-forgotten local legend.

Established in 2018, Hivemind is the new production entity from long-time producing partners Sean Daniel and Jason Brown, Bad Robot veteran Kathy Lingg and former Valiant Entertainment CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani. Dedicated to partnering with high-level creative talent and globally recognized intellectual properties from the worlds of science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic books, video games, anime, and more, Hivemind recently inked a first-look deal with Amazon Studios. GIDEON FALLS marks a major new rights acquisition for the label, which will develop the series as an hour-long horror drama based on Lemire and Sorrentino’s repeatedly sold-out, critically acclaimed comic title of the same name that instantly became one of 2018’s biggest breakout hits upon its debut in March.

“GIDEON FALLS is psychological horror told with a deeply humanistic touch, a story about imperfect people who confront their own demons—imagined and supernatural alike," said Hivemind Co-President Jason Brown. "It is this kind of expertly fashioned, character-focused genre storytelling that inspired us to form Hivemind, and it is our mission to collaborate with world-class authors, artists, and rights holders like Jeff and Andrea to bring their stories to the screen in an authentic way."

GIDEON FALLS is the latest property to join Hivemind's quickly expanding roster of film and television projects. The company currently produces the acclaimed science fiction series The Expanse—which recently made a historic move to Amazon—as well as Netflix's upcoming adaptation of The Witcher, based upon the series of novels that inspired the bestselling game franchise. Its next feature film will be Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark with producer/co-writer Guillermo del Toro and director André Øvredal, which begins production this summer.

"GIDEON FALLS is a story that is very near to our hearts, and Andrea and I could not be more excited to be partnering with Hivemind to bring the terror, and the story of Fred, Norton, and The Black Barn, to an even wider audience," said series co-creator and writer Jeff Lemire.

"It's great to imagine GIDEON FALLS, and all these characters whom we've been working so hard to realize in the graphic novel, now coming to life on TV screens," added series co-creator and artist Andrea Sorrentino.

GIDEON FALLS will also notably re-team Lemire with producer Dinesh Shamdasani, who joins Hivemind as Co-President. Lemire and Shamdasani previously collaborated on multiple bestselling comics projects, including The Valiant and Bloodshot Reborn, during his time at the helm of Valiant Entertainment, which Shamdasani departed following a major acquisition in early 2018. In addition to his duties at Hivemind, Shamdasani is also currently producing a big-screen adaptation of the Bloodshot comic book series for Sony Pictures with star Vin Diesel, director Dave Wilson, and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer that is set to begin filming this summer.

“GIDEON FALLS is one of the most inventive stories anywhere in comics today, colliding a psychologically complex and intellectually nuanced cast against a stark and terrifying terrain of science fiction and horror,” said Shamdasani. “It’s no surprise that it comes from the brilliant minds of two of the most talented creators in the comics medium—Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino—or that it sparked a massive multi-studio bidding war.”

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ABOUT IMAGE COMICS
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of bestselling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has six individuals on the Board of Directors: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, Jim Valentino, and Eric Stephenson. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline Comics, Skybound Entertainment, and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.

ABOUT JEFF LEMIRE & ANDREA SORRENTINO
New York Times best-selling and award-winning author Jeff Lemire is the creator of such iconic graphic novels as Essex County, Sweet Tooth, Underwater Welder, and Roughneck, as well as the co-creator of Descender with Dustin Nguyen, Black Hammer with Dean Ormston and Plutona with Emi Lenox. Having won the American Library Association’s prestigious Alex Award—recognizing books for adults with specific teen—Lemire has been nominated for eight Eisner awards, seven Harvey awards, and eight Shuster awards. Best-selling and acclaimed Italian artist Andrea Sorrentino was named IGN’s Best Comic Artist of 2012 and, in the years since, has contributed to some of Marvel and DC Comics’ greatest properties, including X-Men, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, Secret Empire, and Green Arrow. He is currently working full time on GIDEON FALLS, while still also providing covers for Marvel and DC Comics. Lemire and Sorrentino are represented by Angela Cheng Caplan of Cheng Caplan Company, Inc. and represented legally by Allison Binder of Stone, Meyer, Genow, Smelkinson & Binder.

ABOUT HIVEMIND
Established in 2018, Hivemind (originally announced as Mythos) is dedicated to partnering with high-level creative talent and globally recognized intellectual properties from the worlds of science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic books, video games, anime, and more. The company’s current projects include the acclaimed science fiction series The Expanse for Amazon and the highly anticipated television adaptation of The Witcher for Netflix, as well as the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark feature film, based on the best-selling book series, from producer/co-writer Guillermo del Toro and director André Øvredal, which goes into production this summer. Hivemind recently signed a first-look deal with Amazon Studios for event television, and its leadership team includes former Universal Pictures president Sean Daniel, his producing partner Jason Brown, Bad Robot veteran Kathy Lingg, and former Valiant CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani.

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