I shared the official announcement from Dreamology Pictures a few days ago, stating how they had optioned the TV rights for The Demonata. A day after that, Max Aaron, half of the creative team (Ijaz Iqbal is the other), posted the following personal message on the Dreamology page:

"These stories mean not just a huge amount to ourselves, but to Darren Shan and his global community of readers. We couldn't be more honoured to have been handed the keys to develop 'The Demonata' cinematically for television, and who knows, maybe also for cinema.

"'The Demonata' books carried both myself and co-creator Ijaz Iqbal through our early to mid teenage years, falling in love with the characters, and envisaging grisly and cosmic scenes years before we finally stepped foot on a film set and made films of our own.

"So to Darren Shan, we say thank you for trusting us, we aim to go above and beyond. We all look forward to sharing more news with you all over the coming weeks and months." - Max Aaron, Series Co-Creator.

I think that was a really sweet post, and it also illustrates how different this option is to the others I have enjoyed over the years. Always before, the people looking to adapt my works have read them as adults -- they've come to them as established industry insiders, looking for a project to develop. This is the first time we've optioned one of them to a writer and director who read the books as kids, and who are first and foremost approaching the challenge of adopting them as fans looking to see their childhood dreams realised.

I'm finding that makes for a VERY different process -- for instance, I will be flying over to London for a meeting with Max and Ijaz tomorrow, and that will be the first time I've ever actually met any would-be adaptors of my books! (Hard to believe, I know, but true!) It will be interesting to see how things pans out over the months ahead, and if Max and Ijaz's genuine existing love for the series will help them take it forward in ways that a more experienced team couldn't.

Watch this space!!!