MIDDLE MAN IS GO!

Just read the news that the ABC FAMILY network has picked up THE MIDDLE MAN. This is significant for many reasons. The first being it's great news for my pal Javier Grillo-Marxuach. You can call him "Javi". I do. Javi and I worked together on season one of LOST. Many of his ideas are still present in the show. Including the recent season ender. He also wrote THE LOST EXPERIENCE ARG. Javi is a brilliant writer, a fun guy to hang with, obsessed with star wars, and russian aircraft design. The Middleman is his creation. It's the story of a young woman who is recruited by a secret agency to fight aliens, robots, and talking monkeys. And now it's a TV SHOW!

For years Javi had wanted to do something with a cool script he'd written called THE MIDDLEMAN. He thought it could be a feature film, or maybe a TV show. But his Agents said it wouldn't fly. It was too wacky. And told him to put it on the shelf and focus on other things. Javi's not that guy. He never gives up. Especially if he thinks something is awesome. And talking monkeys are awesome. So Javi took matters into his own hands. He found an amazing artist online, and together they turned his pilot script into a comic book. Then Javi found a publisher, and got his book on comic store shelves. Critical response was positive. And Javi used his BLOG as a place for fans of the book to gather online. He put art from the book on the web. And script pages. He did signings at stores. And had a young woman dress-up as the book's heroine, and walk around the San Diego Comic Con.

Now that THE MIDDLEMAN was a tangible thing. Was well reviewed. And had a fan following. Javi talked his Agents into trying to sell his baby as a TV show. He twisted their arms. They did it. And what a shock -- sold it to ABC FAMILY.

Javi's belief in his own idea. Even when other people told him he was nuts. Should inspire all of us to get off our butts and bring our own ideas to life. Javi's success is not a one-off. Another pal of mine named Luke McMullen is behind the ABC FAMILY pilot: SAMURAI GIRL!

If these two geeks can do it -- you can too!

THE MIDDLE MAN.




UPDATE

Javi's added a post to his blog about THE MIDDLEMAN as transmedia property. And creator ownership. Check it out HERE!

UPDATE

Luke McMullen's pilot SAMURAI GIRL just got picked up!