‘Thor’ & ‘Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous’ Scribe Zack Stentz Lines Up TV Adaptation Of Korean IP ‘Deep’

EXCLUSIVE: Zack Stentz’s (Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous) newly launched Electric Brain Entertainment has secured rights to Korean IP Deep for TV adaptation.

The idea is for the popular Korean webtoon series to get both Korean- and English-language drama versions with overlapping plot lines and cast. Thor, X-Men: First Class and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous writer Stentz and producer Geoffrey Clark (The 2nd) will spearhead the spinoffs through Electric Brain.

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The sci-fi thriller series follows the families of humans who went missing and suddenly begin to reappear from the ocean as living corpses, unaged and unchanged in the years and even decades since their disappearances.

Ko Dae-Jung, who planned and developed the well-received Korean original, partnered with Hugh Cha, director of the Asia Division at Bohemia Group and CEO of Stage Bridge, to propose global versions of the drama to Stentz. Stentz and Geoffrey J. Clark will serve as producers. Ko, Cha, Stentz and Clark will act as executive producers.

The Korean original, which debuted on platform Naver Webtoon, was developed and produced by Ko Dae-Jung at Storytelling and is co-produced by Lotte Culture Works, which is expanding its TV series division. Ko is the CEO of Storytelling Co. and has produced multiple K-drama series over the past 20 years, such as The Queen of Office, Korean Peninsula and Sweet Life. The original series was written by Kang Seon-ju, who wrote the screenplay for Netflix film The Call.

“Deep is an unforgettable thriller that finds the universal in the specific,” said writer and executive producer Stentz. “What happens when the ocean gives up her unquiet dead, and the unfinished business they left behind rises to the surface with the bodies of the missing? By connecting the deeply personal to the global, we plan to spin out a story that—like its audience—will span from Los Angeles to Sydney to Seoul, and every place between.”

Said EP Clark: “The global version of Deep will expand upon the original Korean production’s blending of family drama and dark sci-fi thriller. By introducing new characters and twists within and existing plot line, Deep has the potential to be a global event with a worldwide mystery that can continue to unfold season after season.”

Deep creator Ko added: “I’m grateful to Stage Bridge’s CEO Hugh Cha for helping create this global collaboration with Zack Stentz and Geoffrey J. Clark. We are in the final stages of developing the Korean series production. We hope that the American series succeeds as a global project that can enhance the status of Korean content throughout the world, and illustrate the benefits of international collaboration.”

Stentz is represented by Paul Haas at WME, Susan Solomon-Shapiro at Circle of Confusion and Ken Richman and Bryan Swatt at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.

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