USA Network has ordered the production of a pilot episode for a Masters of Doom TV show based on the founding of id Software. The show adapts David Kushner’s book of the same name published by Random House in 2003.
Masters of Doom covers the story of John Carmack and John Romero from their founding of id Software, to the release of the original Doom, to their eventual falling out with each other. Author David Kushner will help produce the show, alongside James Franco’s Ramona Films and The Gotham Group. However, actual filming and production will be handled by Universal Content Productions.
Writer’s Guild of America Award winning writer Tom Bissell will pen the pilot’s script. Bissell has written for a number of video games before, notable entries in the Gears of War, Battlefield, and Uncharted franchises. In addition to this, Bissell has also written the book Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter and co-authored The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made with Greg Sestero. The latter became a critically acclaimed film in 2017 that James Franco directed and starred in.
According to Deadline, Masters of Doom kicks of USA’s 2019 pilot cycle. The show is said to fit in with the networks focus on “heroes, rebels, and icons.”
When it was released in 1993, Doom catapulted the duo of Carmack and Romero, as well as the rest of id Software, to rock star status among gamers. This sudden rise to fame and fortune, followed by their eventual split, provided for a compelling story that served as the backbone of Kushner’s book. With the Masters of Doom TV show, a new generation of gamers may once again experience one of the wildest rides from the early days of PC gaming. That is, of course, if the pilot gets ordered for a complete series.
