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EXCLUSIVE: From zombies to aliens. The Walking Dead executive producer Gale Anne Hurd and her Valhalla Entertainment have optioned Annie Jacobsen’s book Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base for a potential TV series. The hourlong project, which will be taken out to the networks shortly, will be written by feature scribe Karl Gajdusek. It will follow two men working on the base who are thrust into danger when they uncover secrets that the government will protect at any cost. Gajdusek, who was brought in by Valhalla executive Beatrice Springborn, will serve as showrunner and executive produce with Hurd. Jacobsen will be a consulting producer.
Jacobsen’s Area 51 sheds light on the highly classified military base, which has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories claiming that it is home to aliens, underground tunnel systems, nuclear facilities or even the lunar landing, supposedly staged and filmed there. Jacobsen interviewed 19 men who served the base and another 55 who had links to Area 51, including living and working there for extended periods. The book chronicles what has really gone on in the Nevada desert, from testing nuclear weapons to building super-secret, supersonic jets to pursuing the War on Terror. Area 51 was published in May and spent 8 weeks on the NY Times Bestseller List. Gajdusek, who started off in TV on Showtime’s Dead Like Me, recently wrote the Tom Cruise film Oblivion for Universal, with Joseph Kosinski directing, and The Last Days Of American Crime for Radical/IM Global. Gajdusek, repped by Verve and Management 360, is currently writing Last Resort, a pilot script for ABC executive produced by Shawn Ryan and Viking for Working Title.
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is that photo of her dated from the same time as the Roswell incident as well?
No, Gale still looks great. Jim Cameron’s exes are aging a lot better than he is.
I hope NBC picks this up and it becomes the next X Files for Bob Greenblatt.
She’s a mean, snide woman who pushed Frank Darabont off of his show. Go back to features Gale.
the book is absolute gobbledygook. area 51 a sexy world to play in, but the book is filled with SHOCKING inaccuracies (if not downright fabrications) and (most importantly) theres no narrative in it.
i wish GAH luck with this and hope it comes out better than i fear.
Let’s hear a list of the “shocking inaccuracies” that you’re alluding to! The ONLY BS in this book is the last chapter about the “Roswell incident”…that was made up from “whole cloth” to sell books to IDIOTS! I can tell you that the stories of the men she interviewed are gospel truth. They are personal friends and I know every word to be TRUE. It was THEY who were screwed by Jacobsen (the author)! They trusted her to tell their stories that had been held in secret for over 50 years. She tainted an otherwise scholarly book by adding her BS “theory” regarding “aliens” & Roswell! The men involved are NOT happy with her for that. One more thing, ANYONE who thinks that there are “aliens or alien spacecraft” at what has been called “Area 51″ are delusional. Anyone who tells you that is a LIAR and more than likely NOT in a position to know crap from shinola!
How about this for inaccuracies?
Quoting someone who is very well-versed in the field:
“My friend T.D. is far too kind. Jacobsen’s book has a lot more problems than just the final chapter. This was supposed to be a history of Area 51 but it is not.
The first two chapters focus on UFOs, presenting the unverifiable and largely discredited Bob Lazar tales as facts. The UFO lore is so peripheral to the Groom Lake history that it could be entirely left out without detracting from the story and, in fact, enhancing it.
Chapter Three is straightforward history, making it one of the stronger sections of the book. Unfortunately it also contains some factual errors that could have been easily checked and corrected prior to publication.
The fourth chapter is not relevant to Area 51 other than to suggest that high-altitude aircraft from Nevada were responsible for many UFO sightings. This chapter raises the specter of Nazis, Soviets, and the Horten brothers, along with the specious premise that the Roswell debris was shipped to Nevada. It also builds up the forthcoming Stalin UFO hoax nonsense and drags the reader through a primer on Project Bluebook/Sign/Grudge, etc. that would be better suited to a different book.
The fifth and sixth chapters are on firmer ground with their historical narrative but are, again, rife with factual errors. There are misleading statements like the description of Project 57 as a “dirty bomb” and describing the experiment as the first of its kind (there were four the previous year under Project 56).
At a quick pass, Chapter Seven and Eight are mostly pretty solid. I have a few minor quibbles, mostly with regard to lost opportunities. Chapter Nine seems OK except for drifting away from Area 51 toward the end, and into some nuclear testing history outside of Nevada. This digression seems mostly to be an excuse to dredge up Nazis again through a Wernher von Braun connection.
Chapters Ten and Eleven are mostly good but still plagued with factual errors that appear to be the result of relying on single sources without effort to double-check or corroborate details. Several myths, now disproven, are repeated for another generation of readers (President Lyndon Johnson supposedly reversing the letters of RS-71 to SR-71 in a speech, for example).
Early in Chapter Twelve there seems to be a conflation of concerns regarding the X-15 and possible Oxcart sightings with the X-15 pilot UFO sightings that were correctly identified at the time as flakes of ice.
In Chapter Thirteen we are once again back on solid ground with the history but, as usual, there are factual errors. We also have another lengthy aside on nuclear testing in the Pacific that seems largely unnecessary.
Chapters Fourteen through Seventeen are everything this book should have been. There are a few minor glitches but no show-stoppers. I wish the whole book could have been like this.
The book goes off the rails in Chapter Eighteen. There are examples of misleading statements, factual errors, and a general lack of knowledge on the part of the author. There are, nevertheless, some great stories but they have nothing to do with Area 51.
In Chapter Nineteen the reader is introduced to some of the wilder allegations about Area 51. Perhaps this chapter would have been a good place to summarize and debunk all of the conspiracy theories surrounding the secret base and leave it at that. Unfortunately this is the chapter where Jacobsen sets the stage for the most controversial elements of the book.
But first we have the inane opening sentences of Chapter Twenty (“What happened at Area 51 during the 1980s? Most of the work remains classified and very little else is known.”). She gives lie to this statement by going on to describe stealth projects, exploitation of foreign aircraft, and unmanned vehicles tested during the time in question. There are, as usual, factual errors both minor and egregious.
So, finally we come to the infamous Chapter Twenty-One. After a lengthy discussion of drones, satellites, and secrecy, Jacobsen hangs her credibility and reputation on the most outlandish Area 51 story ever foisted upon the unsuspecting public. Worse yet, it is based on the testimony of a single person whose identity is concealed from the reader. This ludicrous tale, presented as fact despite a paucity of evidence and total lack of corroboration, is a twisted conflation of Cold War paranoia, Communist/Nazi conspiracies, human experimentation, and U.S. government cover-up. It posits an improbable plot to try to cause a panic in America by crashing a fake flying saucer (with fake alien crew of genetically engineered deformed human children) in the most remote part of the southwestern U.S. where the wreckage wasn’t found or reported for days. (Wouldn’t New York or Washington, D.C., have been more logical targets.)
This framework is then used to set up EG&G and the Atomic Energy Commission as villains participating in a cover-up in order to protect the alleged fact that the U.S. was “doing the same thing.” Jacobsen also assaults the reader with a completely bogus claim that Area 51 was created in 1951, contrary to well documented historical narratives, for the purpose of storing and analyzing crash remains from Roswell. I wont rehash all of the details here but, suffice to say, the story does not withstand scrutiny. It fails to pass the most basic tests of logic and evidence.
This insanity continues in the Epilogue. Unfortunately, this is what will make the most lasting impression upon readers. The stories of the real Cold War heroes of Area 51 are lost amidst the conspiracy rant.”
What a fun idea for TV project. Can’t wait. I’ll be there with my tin hat.
know for a FACT that this book is all b.s. disinfo. author and her sources are paid gov liars. I still hope it makes a great show.
You don’t “KNOW” crap! I think Jacobsen is TRASH but not for the reason you claim. Her last chapter about the “Roswell alien theory” is the ONLY part of the book that is PURE FABRICATION! The men she interviewed are personal friends of mine and I can tell you from personal knowledge that the stories of the men she interviewed are gospel truth. She actually SCREWED THEM by tainting an otherwise long overdue story with the pure CRAP that she MADE UP regarding the “Roswell incident”. You wouldn’t know a “paid government liar” if it jumped up and bit you on the A$$!
Did you even read the book????? 90% of it was just the history publicly acknowledged black ops projects from 1950-1975ish starting with the u2. 8% was about the Atomic Energy Commission now called the Department of Energy. 2% of it had anything to do with extraterrestrial discussion and even THAT part ended up being terrestrial.
I hear Frank pushed himself…
If AMC knew what it was doing, they would grab this show. They are looking for a sci fi show.
Could be an interesting series.
I want to believe… this show will have better writers than The Walking Dead.
area 51 is a need to know,,,and no one needs to know,,,you caint stick to fact..because of all the misinformation that is going on
Since when is it news to be going out with a pitch
No writer?
Wait a second.
This is an article about a PITCH THAT HAS YET TO EVEN BE TAKEN OUT.
How is that a story?
At Dick Clarke,
You are an amazing fellow in demonstrating your faithful support and friendship to our nations secret heroes of the cold war. However, you seem to be blinded by your emotional rage.
Do you kick a dog for sleeping? Dogs sleep and that’s what they do. Just like an investigative reporter, Ms. Jacobsen did what she does. And I might ad that she did quite a good job at it. Your one man Jihad against Ms. Jacobsen is getting old fast.
The Roadrunners need not be concerned about the infamous “last Chapter”. Anyone with a lick of sense knows that it was just a conglomeration of very old recollections from an elderly person which contained second and third hand accounts. Ms. Jacobsen clearly states that this was NOT information conceived in her mind. It was the report of an individual who had worked at those sites.
And you know very well that the security standards of Special Access Only, Compartmentalization, and a need-to-know Basis means that NO ONE knows that whole story.
In fact if you or anyone had a bit of imagination and insight on the subject you could simply fill in the blanks.
So for Dick Clarke to make such accusations is itself, “Pure Fabrication”, “Dis-information”, and “Made-up crap”.
The facts are that the AREA 51 book has some great information and of course the reader must take in account the perspectives of each story.
People must not be so incredibly naive to take every word from any source or book as gospel truth. That is why we have minds, to make and draw our own conclusions.
The conclusion I take from the AREA 51 book is that the real story cannot be told for the sake of national security. And as Dicks friend TD said, “for fear of “POTENTIAL LITIGATION” from the “ENEMY’S WITHIN”.
What does that mean? I take it to mean that there were many others who suffered in the battle for dominance of the Cold War. And I would ask one question. Are these the names of heroes we will never know?