The Proposal

We propose to produce an exciting, visceral, action packed adventure, 2 x 1 hour episodes, for the “special event” broadcast slot of Simon Scarrow’s best selling first novel UNDER THE EAGLE. Based on the success of this prestige pilot there is then the opportunity to commission another two series based on the adventures of Centurion Macro and Optio Cato which continue in a further seven books. The eighth book, THE EAGLES STAND, will be published on 7th January 2008.

HBO’s vastly successful ROME garnered a huge international audience through TV and DVD sales and proved that there is a demand for the return of the epic historical drama. Whereas ROME is more about the political machinations of the city at the core of the Empire, THE EAGLES will be more like Bernard Cornwell’s incredibly popular SHARPE. THE EAGLES provides exciting missions, violent battles, cliff-hangers, suspense and excitement as we follow the adventures of Macro and Cato – a series more like “Gladiator” than “Sex in the Senate”.

SHARPE is the model for this proposal as it was a historical adventure series that went onto become commercially and critically acclaimed with huge TV and DVD sales. Like SHARPE, THE EAGLES is already an internationally successful series of books with over 400,000 copies sold worldwide. Indeed SHARPE’s author Bernard Cornwell said of UNDER THE EAGLE, “I really don’t need this kind of competition”.

Although THE EAGLES has an epic feeling and is set against the backdrop of the Roman campaigns of 42-47AD, the films will not be prohibitively expensive. True, they will not be low-budget but as SHARPE implied the Napoleonic war, THE EAGLES will imply (bar some ‘set pieces’) the might of Rome. As the books focus on the adventures of two individual soldiers on secret missions, much of the action is contained to skirmishes rather than vast battles.

THE EAGLES will provide a rich insight into another time but will also reflect our own world and provide an insight to ourselves. At its heart is the friendship between Macro and Cato as they embark on their dangerous missions to safeguard the Empire only to find their arch enemy the Machiavellian Vitellius taking the credit. However, the start of the friendship and the adventure, the violence and the intrigue is held in the very first bestseller, our pilot, UNDER THE EAGLE.

Because of the international success of the books, the perennial and ongoing interest in Roman history, and the exceptionally brilliant adventures of our main characters, we predict that THE EAGLES will be a huge international success.