The Dean Koontz novel “Strangers” is in development as a one-hour drama at Fox that hails from Jeff Davis.
“Strangers” tells the story of several different people, thousands of miles apart, from different walks of life, finding themselves struck by unusual fears and sudden phobias. A novelist in California suffers unbearable sleep terrors. In Boston, a surgeon’s intense panic attacks threaten her career. A priest in Chicago dreads the rise of the moon. An ex-Marine develops a paralyzing fear of the dark. They’re all connected by a forgotten trauma, repressed memories now surfacing and leading each of them to one destination: a small motel in Nevada where a dark secret lies hidden–one that could change the course of humanity itself.
Fox has given the project a script commitment with a penalty attached. Davis will write and executive produce, with Koontz and Josh Berman and Chris King of Osprey Productions also executive producing. The project is a co-production between Fox and Sony Pictures Television. Osprey is currently under an overall deal Sony.
Davis previously created the long-running CBS procedural “Criminal Minds” as well as the MTV series “Teen Wolf.” “Criminal Minds” recently began its thirteenth season on CBS, while “Teen Wolf” ran for six on the cable network. He is repped by WME, Authentic Talent and Literary Management, and Jackoway Tyerman.
Should the project go to series, it would be the first TV show based on Koontz’s work. Previously, several of his books have served as the basis for movies and TV movies, including “Watchers,” “Phantoms,” and “Odd Thomas.”