James and Dave Franco to Executive Produce MASTERS OF DOOM for USA Network

USA Network has placed a pilot order for anthology series MASTERS OF DOOM with the first installment based on award-winning journalist and author David Kushner's landmark nonfiction book of the same name.

MASTERS OF DOOM is the true story of two computer geniuses in an obscure corner of America who, along with a group of rebellious misfits, created one of the biggest franchise hits of the 90s, the video gameDOOM. John Carmack and John Romero were best friends who became bitter rivals, as they created a video game empire and transformed Pop culture forever.

From UCP (Universal Content Productions), MASTERS OF DOOM will be written by WGA Award winner Tom Bissell, who will also serve as executive producer. Bissell is writer on the Gears of War, Battlefield, and Unchartedvideo game franchises; author of nine books, including Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter; and co-author of the New York Times bestseller The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made. His short fiction has also been anthologized in multiple editions of the Best American Short Stories series.

Serving as executive producers are Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Eric Robinson and Jeremy Bell of The Gotham Group; James Franco, Dave Franco, Vince Jolivette and Elizabeth Haggard of Ramona Films; and Kushner. D.J. Goldberg of The Gotham Group will serve as co-executive producer.

USA's recent scripted series orders include BRIARPATCH, executive produced by MR. ROBOT's Sam Esmail along with Andy Greenwald and Chad Hamilton and starring Rosario Dawson and Kim Dickens; BRAVE NEW WORLD, a television adaptation of the iconic Aldous Huxley novel; TREADSTONE, an action-packed thriller from a producer of the "Bourne" franchise; and DARE ME, based on the award-winning young adult novel from Megan Abbott.

Bissell is represented by LINK Entertainment and Morris Yorn. Kushner is repped by The Gotham Group and Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof & Fishman LLP. The Gotham Group is repped by WME and Nelson Davis LLP.

Kushner is the author of six books, including his latest, The Players Ball. A contributing editor of Rolling Stone, he has written for publications including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, New York Times Magazine, New York, and GQ, and has been an essayist for National Public Radio.

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