A few months ago, it was announced that the Netflix streaming service had come out the winner of an intense bidding war over a supernatural drama called Pagans. The show is coming our way from writer Joshua Zetumer, who previously created the Hulu mini-series Say Nothing. Since the project secured a major straight-to-series deal with Netflix, production companies have been pursuing the chance to make the show for Netflix – and now, Deadline reports that the winner in that competition is Goddard Textiles, with Drew Goddard and his producing partner Sarah Esberg coming on board to executive produce the show.
Synopsis
Pagans follows a man who becomes the sole caretaker of his two children after the tragic loss of his wife. While his son is typical, his daughter, Alice, is anything but. What starts as a strained father-daughter relationship soon evolves into something far more sinister. Equal parts emotional, horrifying and humorous, Pagans uses genre to unearth all the dark thoughts that parents have, the kind of thoughts mom and dad are never supposed to talk about… So it sounds like this one could turn out to be quite creepy and unnerving.
Zetumer
The first time I heard the name Joshua Zetumer was when he was brought in to do some uncredited work on the screenplay for the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. Since then, Zetumer has written the RoboCop remake, Patriots Day, unused screenplays for Dune and a Jason Bourne sequel, and spec scripts that have sold or gotten positive attention but haven’t made it into production. As mentioned, he also created the Hulu mini-series Say Nothing.
When Pagans went on the market, “Some 15-18 studios, platforms and producers took part in the heated auction done in an unusual format that gave it a sense of urgency and exclusivity. Zetumer’s team from UTA and Entertainment 360 sent the script to designated potential buyers on a special app that allowed them to read it within a 24-hour window, with no option for the link to be copied or shared. That triggered an immediate reaction — bids started coming in right away, with multiple studios making seven-figure offers right off the bat. Within days, Pagans was the talk of the town, with the hot project becoming a topic du jour at the industry parties during Emmy weekend. The field of bidders was subsequently narrowed down, with Netflix eventually walking away with the spec that has Zetumer attached as writer, executive producer and showrunner. It will be developed through the streamer’s studio group headed by Nne Ebong who reports to Jinny Howe, head of U.S.-Canada scripted series.”
Goddard
Deadline reports that “Goddard’s extensive experience in the genre TV series space through his work on Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and spinoff Angel, The Good Place, Alias and Daredevil (as well as in features with movies like The Martian, World War Z, The Cabin In the Woods and Cloverfield), played a major role in his company being selected.”
Goddard Textiles’ Andrea Massaro will serve as a co-executive producer on the project.
This deal falls outside of Goddard’s existing first-look deal at 20th Television, where his company has the drama series High Potential, which was created by Goddard (based on a French and Belgian format), and the upcoming Hulu series Phony. Goddard also recently wrote and executive produced the movie Project Hail Mary, which is set to reach theatres (courtesy of Amazon MGM and Sony) in March, and he’s set to write, direct, and produce a new entry in The Matrix franchise for Warner Bros.
What do you think of Drew Goddard signing on to executive produce Pagans? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
