Revelations Entertainment & Prodigy Pictures Team With CRISPR Pioneer George Church For Dramatic Series

Anthony D'Alessandro
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: We can tell you first that Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary of Revelations Entertainment and Jay Firestone of Prodigy Pictures are partnering with geneticist and CRISPR pioneer George Church to develop and produce a dramatic series centered on the dangerous and life-affirming ways the technology can impact the world.

The series, to be written and produced by Nick Torokvei, explores the personal and global implications of cutting-edge gene editing and engineering technologies being used in the effort to combat climate change.

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“We are honored to be working directly with George Church,” Freeman and McCreary said. “He has been at the forefront of new genetic technology that is certain to impact all of our lives in more ways – and faster – than we think.”

Firestone, who has produced series dealing with aspects of science and fantasy, originally met Church at a Science & Entertainment Exchange event. “George’s work could have a profound impact on the environment. He is committed to ensuring that the general public can understand CRISPR’s true potential and how we can use it to improve society, and we believe the best way to do this is to produce a series where fantasy meets reality.”

Church is Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is director of the U.S. Department of Energy Technology Center and director of the National Institutes of Health Center of Excellence in Genomic Science. His work has inspired past film/TV development – his efforts to revive the woolly mammoth was the basis for Ben Mezrich’s Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive One of History’s Most Iconic Extinct Creatures, which was optioned and developed as a feature.

Church has received numerous awards including the 2011 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science from the Franklin Institute and election to the National Academy of Sciences and Engineering.

Coming off the success of Madam Secretary, Revelations has navigated the world of cutting-edge scientific topics in such Freeman-hosted shows as Through the Wormhole for the Science Channel and Story of God and Story of Us for National Geographic. In 2014, Freeman narrated What’s Possible, a short film produced by the United Nations about the need to solve the climate crisis. That film was presented to 162 world leaders to encourage change.

Freeman, McCreary and Revelations are repped by CAA and Sloane, Offer, Weber, and Dern. Firestone is repped by Morris Yorn Barnes Levine. Torokvei is repped by Lindsay Williams at Gotham Group and attorney David Jelenko at LGNAFC.

Church is represented by George Tobia of Burns & Levinson LLP.

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