Houdini & Arthur Conan Doyle storm Hollywood

From DHD – First, Dreamworks acquired Voices from the Dead, an original script from J. Michael Straczynski (Changling, Babylon 5) based on the real-life friendship of magician Harry Houdini and mystery author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (pictured above). The script is a fictional take on the pair as they team up with a psychic to solve bizarre murders in 1920s New York.

Then SyFy announced that they, too, are pairing Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, for a drama series about the duo solving mysteries in the 1920’s. SyFy’s project, Among the Spirits – named after Houdini’s book A Magician Among the Spirits, published back in 1924 –  is based on a self-published graphic novel by Steve Valentine and Paul Chart. Syfy describes the project as a turn-of-the-century Fringe – it will center on Houdini and Doyle as they, with the help of a female cop, try to solve bizarre murders and strange occurrences that look like hauntings and other supernatural events using steampunk technology. Entertainment One is behind the project, with Chart and Valentine writing as well as producing with Daniel J. Frey.

And let’s not forget, ABC has a very similar type of show in development, only starring a different authorial legend – Edgar Allen Poe.

You can always count on Hollywood to squeeze every possible variation out of a trend…