Paramount assembles top-tier writing team for planned Ology franchise

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Building a rock-solid franchise from the ground up is tough to do, but Paramount is hoping to make a splash with the OLOGY series, a 13-book collection of illustrated fantasy books primarily edited and authored by Dugald Steer. As part of Paramount's plan, the studio has assembled an impressive team of writers to work beside Akiva Goldsman, who will oversee the massive project.

As per Deadline's exclusive report, Goldsman will be joined in the writer's room by JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE scribe Jeff Pinkner, Pulitzer Prize-winning KAVALIER and CLAY author Michael Chabon, KINGKILLER CHRONICLE scribe Lindsey Beer, BLACK PANTHER and PEOPLE VS. OJ SIMPSON scribe Joe Robert Cole, and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and CAPTAIN MARVEL writers Nicole Perlman and Christina Hodson, who've recently penned the script for the Travis Knight-directed TRANSFORMERS spinoff feature BUMBLEBEE.

The goal of the OLOGY writer's room project is for the above-mentioned scribes to choose a book in the OLOGY series, and create a treatment alongside a group of visual artists who will be at their disposal. Paramount’s top creative execs Wyck Godfrey and Liz Raposo will also be along for the ride, while managing the room's creative output in all regards. In essence, the idea is for the writing team to orchestrate scripts for seven interconnected films. Each of the movies in the series will then be produced by Goldsman, who will also provide a script for at least one of the OLOGY installments himself.

Yeah, this team is going to need all the coffee. 

The OLOGY series is comprised of 13 fictional Young Adult encyclopedias from Templar Publishing. Orchestrated by editor and author Dugald Steer. Each chapter of the OLOGY is saga is presented from the viewpoint of a fictional author who's managed to share their fictional investigations in each tome. The book suggests that the reader has stumbled upon the author's "lost journal," and may benefit from the information and stories found within its many pages. Some of the books included in the series are as follows: Spyology, Knightology, Dinosaurology, Dragonology, Alienology, Monsterology, Vampireology, Mythology and Egyptology.

If all goes well, Paramount hopes to launch a highly-lucrative family-friendly series of films based on the OLOGY collection. The films are expected to be presented in a live-action format, and will feature characters who are looking to educate themselves about the many mysteries and magics of strange world.

Could the OLOGY series be the next big thing in high-fantasy Hollywood? Are you anxious to learn of which directors take the various projects? From what I can tell, there certainly does appear to be a lot of room to play around with the concepts found in this series, and it'd be real cool to see Paramount take it as far as it could possibly go.