Cthulhu Crush Productions has optioned the top-selling young adult sci-fi book series “The Dark Numbers” from Flemish author Luc Descamps, for television development in the US. Described as Harry Potter meets Doctor Who and a hit with teens in Belgium and the Netherlands, the seven volume series follows Tim DeWilde and his discovery of The Dark Numbers, the secret properties on the back sides of numbers that allow users to create magical wonders. The books first became available to English speaking readers in 2013.
After discovering The Dark Numbers, Tim is enrolled in a secret school with others who share his gift for the Numbers. His classmates can use Dark Numbers to read minds, move objects, even create improbable machines. Tim’s shocked to discover that not only can he do all of that, he also can do what no one else can do: use the Dark Numbers to open portals in time and space. This discovery launches him and his friends on adventures fraught with danger, wonder, mystery…along with the pressures of growing up.
Cthulhu Crush has enlisted Intellectual Property Group’s Brian Lipson to rep the television property. Lipson has represented clients such as Stephen Ambrose (Band of Brothers), Rex Picket (Sideways), Nelson Johnson (Boardwalk Empire).
“I’ve been wanting to do this project for years,” said Cthulhu Crush Productions CEO and Creative Partner Jody Wheeler. “It’s a wonderful set-up that brings a sci-fi spin on classic fantasy themes. The books are fast moving tales of adventure, excitement, and time travel. We’re building on that to tell as many fantastic stories as there are numbers.”
Wheeler and his Cthulhu Crush Productions partner Steve Parker are the creative force behind such indie faves as Judas Kiss and The Dark Place, the latter of which Wheeler also wrote and directed. The first productions under their Cthulhu banner, WTF!, a comedy-horror feature, and Love, Colin, a coming of age tale, are finishing post for a 2016 debut.
The Dark Numbers will be Cthulhu Crush’s first TV series.
“I can’t sleep from the excitement,” author Luc Descamps said. “Being picked up by an American production company with an aim to sharing my creation with a global audience has been a dream of mine for some time. With Cthulhu Crush and IPG behind the project, we’ve taken an important first step.”
“The Dark Numbers has exciting young protagonists, fantastical, near magical, adventures, and a theme that is both familiar and original at the same time. I think audiences are going to love it,” Wheeler added.
