Vertigo’s Scalped Gets A Pilot

WGNA this quarter has fielded its strongest original series to date in the Appalachian family saga Outsiders, which is averaging 2.4 million viewers per episode since its Jan. 26 debut. But the write-down indicates how challenging it is for smaller cablers to gain real traction with original series in the “peak TV” era.

Scalped was penned by Doug Jung (Banshee) who also exec produces. It’s a crime saga set on a Native American Indian reservation where a battle between leaders erupts after one returns home from long period away. It’s based on the series from DC’s Vertigo imprint written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by R.M. Guéra.

Roadside Picnic hails from Neal Moritz’s Original Film banner and is based on the 1972 Russian-language novel of the same name by brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, who battled Soviet-era censorship to get the dystopian work published. The novel has become a cult classic among fantasy fiction buffs since its first English-language translation in 1977.

Screenwriter Jack Paglen (Transcendence) is handling the TV adaptation and exec producing with Alan Taylor (“Mad Men”), who is on board to direct. Moritz and Original’s Vivian Cannon are also exec producing. Roadside Picnic revolves around a “stalker” dubbed Red who infiltrates the areas abandoned by the alien invaders to better understand the mysterious ramifications of their visit.