Ridley Scott is Making an Ebola TV Miniseries

keri · ‎12-22-2010

(Source: By Paul on Oct 17, 2014 | tvovermind.com)

Ebola is currently an inescapable news topic as thousands suffer in Africa and a few select cases have broken out in the US. Because of the “interest” in the deadly disease, it seems now the time is ripe for Ridley Scott to start work on the Ebola-themed project he optioned two decades ago.

That would be the book “The Hot Zone” by Richard Preston, written in 1994 about the then-also-deadly Ebola virus. Originally Scott was working on the project as a feature film, but over the course of the last year, the idea has morphed into a TV miniseries instead. One of the producers, Lynda Obst, explains why the shift has been made:

“A limited series is a great way to do this because you don’t have to limit it to a three-act structure like you do with a film.”

There’s no word on how long exactly the miniseries will run, nor when or on what network it will air. Scott will direct at least the first episode personally, and produce the others. It is a drama, not a documentary, and it will include new information about Ebola from an article being written by Preston about the current outbreak.

So far, the virus has killed over 4,000 people in West Africa, and recent a Texas nurse died in what was the first US death from Ebola. It will be interesting to see if Scott’s miniseries will air at a time when there’s still panic about the disease, or whether or not it will either explain the virus rationally, or fan the flames of fear. Though considering how deadly it is, I suppose it’s possible to do both.

Look for Preston’s Ebola piece in the New Yorker soon, and more information on Ridley Scott’s TV miniseries project to come after that, most likely.

[Photo via Getty Images]

Read more at http://www.tvovermind.com/tv-news/ridley-scott-making-ebola-tv-miniseries-242636#JgoUcmXFTEC3OUX8.99

====================================

Producer-Director Ridley Scott is best known for serving as EP of The Good Wife; producer of Thelma & Louise; Black Hawk Down; and the uncredited co-producer of Blade Runner.