Hot on the heels of the announcement of several original series for the streaming/mailorder behemoth Netflix (which, truthfully, has seen better days), Deadline is reporting that the company has put in a 13-episode order for a new Eli Roth-produced horror series called "Hemlock Grove," based on a Brian McGreevy novel that comes out this spring (McGreevy will co-write the series with his writing partner Lee Shipman). "Hemlock Grove" now joins the David Fincher/Kevin Spacey drama "House of Cards," comedy "Orange is the New Black" (from "Weeds" creator Jenji Kohan), and a brand new season of "Arrested Development," as original projects for the company. While this new creative blood might be enough to sway people back on the side of Netflix, it's another potential buyout that are making investors really happy.
According to DealReporter (via Deadline), cell phone giant Verizon is considering buying Netflix, a rumor that saw the Netflix shares jump 6.8% on Monday. It's long been whispered that Verizon was serious about getting into streaming services (they were one of the companies that looked at purchasing Hulu), and they are apparently eager to sew this up sooner rather than later – they plan on announcing their streaming service as early as May 28th. While it could be riskier (and much cheaper) to create their own streaming service, Netflix is still a name that (most people) can trust, they have a huge subscriber base, and they're "looking for anything to turn the tide," including greenlighting an Eli Roth show!
"Hemlock Grove" will be produced in conjunction with Gaumont International Television, a U.S. offshoot of French studio Gaumont that recently got a 13-episode commitment for "Hannibal," the Bryan Fuller-produced Hannibal Lecter series for NBC. McGreevy and Lee are a hot writing duo perpetually on the cusp of the A-list, with several unproduced scripts landing on the Black List and several more in development, including a "Dracula" redo for Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way and "Zorro Reborn" for Fox. Eli Roth will presumably direct the pilot for "Hemlock Grove" and oversee the production, while we'll see in the next few days if Verizon takes the Netflix bait.