The Diamond Age

Based on Neal Stephenson’s best-selling novel THE DIAMOND AGE: OR A YOUNG LADY’S ILLUSTRATED PRIMER, this six-hour miniseries is exec produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov of Smokehouse Prods. A prominent member of a conservative futuristic society grows concerned that the culture stifles creativity, and commissions a controversial interactive book for his daughter, which serves as her guide through a surreal alternate world. When the primer’s provocative technology, which adapts to the reader’s responses, falls into the hands of a young innocent, the girl’s life is accidentally reprogrammed with dangerous results. Neal Stephenson will adapt his own novel for this project, the first time the Hugo and Nebula winning author has written for the small screen. (VFX World)

New Smokehouse Project: The Diamond Age

Clooney, Sci Fi Celebrate ‘The Diamond Age’
By Daniel Fienberg
January 12, 2007

George ClooneySci Fi Channel has ordered a six-hour miniseries based on Neal Stephenson’s best-selling novel “The Diamond Age: Or a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer” to be produced by George Clooney. During its Television Critic’s Association press tour panel, Sci Fi announced an ambitious development slate that also includes productions from familiar names Darren Star (”Sex and the City”) and Mark Burnett (”Survivor”). “Sci Fi originals continue to push the boundaries of imagination to help us envision and explore a reality and a future far beyond the scope of our experience,” says Mark Stern, the cable network’s executive vice president of original programming. “From provocative screen adaptations of science fiction bestsellers to futurist action thrillers and off-beat, Earth-based human dramas, Sci Fi offers an inventive range of originals that reflect the genre’s ever-broadening appeal.” Stephenson will adapt “The Diamond Age” for Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Productions. The book, set in a neo-Victorian futuristic society involves an underprivileged young lady who gets her hands of a technologically advanced book intended only for the children of the upper classes. (Zap2it)