Ernest Cline Headshot - P 2013
AMC has ordered a pilot for Geek Out (working title), an unscripted series about super-fans and the material they love.
Fanboys writer Ernest Cline is slated to be the host. The network is casting for a co-host to join Cline.
Fanboys is a 1998-set comedy about a group of Star Wars-obsessed friends who plot to break into George Lucas‘ Skywalker Ranch to steal an early copy of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
He is also the author of the bestselling Ready Player One, a future-set novel about a world dominated by a video game based on ’80s pop culture. The book is under development at Warner Bros.
His follow-up novel Armada is due out next year. Universal acquired the rights in December and is developing a feature on the project.
Each episode of Geek Out will celebrate one ultimate fan (such as the guy who turned his apartment into an exact replica of the Starship Enterprise, the comic book fan whose body is covered in X-Men tattoos or the suburban mom whose entire house is overflowing with Twilight memorabilia) and their obsession — from films to comic books to video games to athletes and actors.
“Geek Out celebrates a different facet of fanboy and fangirl culture, as we ‘geek out’ at the kind of epic level that usually only occurs at Comic Con,” said Cline.
Ultimately, the show will reward the fan with a surprise one-of-a-kind moment tied to their pop culture love.
“Geek Out is really a wish-fulfillment show that features touching stories with stakes so real to the person involved that the audience will become engrossed in their journey and want to see their dream come true,” said Joel Stillerman, AMC’s executive vice president of original programming, production and digital content.
If Geek Out is picked up to series, it would find a logical home on the network’s new Thursday night block of unscripted shows.
AMC airs the second season of Comic Book Men at 9 p.m. followed by new series Freakshow at 9:30 p.m. and Immortalized at 10 p.m.
AMC’s Stillerman, Mary Conlon, vice president of non-scripted original programming; Jason Fisher, senior vice president of production; and Ari Mark, director of development, oversee the development and production for the network.
