The Neon-Noir Dystopian Thriller from NeoText Will Be Adapted as a Feature Film
(November 17) Amazon Studios and Simon Kinberg’s Genre Films have optioned DNA, a neon-noir dystopian novella by writer Julian Meiojas and artist Mad Dog Jones. Set in a twisted future America, DNA follows anti-hero protagonist Ram, a low-level, irreverent “process server” at the Death Notification Agency, who goes on the run after receiving his own death notice and stumbles into a larger conspiracy. Meiojas, an established television writer and producer for series such as Jack Ryan and Ridley Scott’s Raised by Wolves, will adapt the script based on his own series in his first foray into film.
DNA introduces Ramsay Carnes. Known to his friends as “Ram,” he’s a process server – a reaper – for the Death Notification Agency, which is now the biggest government organization in the world thanks to a mysterious and highly-guarded technology that can determine the time of anyone’s demise, right down to the minute. And it’s Ram’s job as a reaper to deliver death notices to soon-to-be-deceased citizens 24 hours before they give up the ghost. Ram floats through his days letting folks know when their lives are about to go belly up, then heads to Nasty Nate’s Tavern in his aloha shirt to wash down the days with a well-earned drink or ten. But Ram’s simple life is about to get a lot more complicated when one night he receives his own death notice. DNA follows Ram as he now has to outrun his own death, travelling from sweat-drenched Florida down elevated sky roads to New York City, where the DNA’s skyscraper headquarters hides a secret that—if Ram digs deep enough—could unravel the truth behind not just his own death notice but the life and death business as he knows it.
The recently released novella series comes from NeoText, a new digital publishing company dedicated to publishing short-form prose ranging from science fiction and noir novellas to investigative journalism and narrative nonfiction. NeoText execs John Schoenfelder, Russell Ackerman, and Jay Schuminsky will serve as producers alongside Genre’s Kinberg and Audrey Chon.
“Death Notification Agency by Julian Meiojas is a laser-powered sci-fi noir action of the highest order,” said the NeoText execs. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to keep building the DNA book series and brand with Amazon, Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chon as Julian adapts Ram’s saga for film.”
For more updates on NeoText, follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and visit www.neotextcorp.com.
Julian Oliver Meiojas is an electric film and television writer/producer and author who specializes in action, crime, thriller and science fiction. He’s currently writing and co-executive producing Amazon’s award-winning Jack Ryan. Prior to that, he wrote and co-executive produced HBO MAX’s series Raised by Wolves for director Ridley Scott (Alien, Bladerunner) and creator Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners) while also developing an original real-time thriller with HULU for director David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde). Julian is a first-generation American who taps into his multicultural background to find unique points of view for his fast-paced genre storytelling. He has been involved in the writing and production of over 100 episodes of television across all major outlets. Julian lives with his wife, daughter, and terrier in Los Angeles. Death Notification Agency, Volume One: The Reaper and its five subsequent volumes will collectively be his first published novel.
The work of Mad Dog Jones (aka Michah Dowbak) deftly interweaves cyberpunk elements with the beauty and freedom of nature. As a lover of the wilderness, which was ever present where he grew up, he brings a fresh thematic approach to the metropolitan aesthetic, done up in citrus and neon tones of technology somehow rendered as a space naturally human. Having grown up around Thunder Bay, Mad Dog Jones draws constant inspiration from the Canadian wilderness, as well as from Anime, Sci-Fi and cyberpunk, pulling together a rare and powerful fusion of two worlds sometimes considered irreconcilable. Dowbak recently premiered his first ever art exhibit “AFTERL-IFE WORLD” at the Diesel Art Gallery in Shibuya Tokyo. “AFTERL-IFE WORLD” was a fully immersive study of light, colour, and transparency of technology.
