I would like to see it set in the original time period. I believe this would keep the integrity of the storyline intact and reduce the need to "interpret" what Ayn Rand would change to fit current days environment. Alternatively, a series set in Today with a lot of flash backs to the 1950s might be interesting as a comparison to the social progress impact the the novel.

I definitely should be set in the near future.

The comments here overwhelmingly prefer that the story be told in the present day, or day-after-tomorrow. The thinking is that younger people will not relate if it doesn't include jets, cell phones, computers, etc. I think this is wrong. Good story telling needs a plot that is consistent with the setting, time period, and characters. Settings in the past can be more compelling than 'ripped from the headlines' contemporary settings. For example, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Roots, Thornbirds, etc., were powerful productions based in times gone by. Rand wrote a story that was consistent with her times, but the themes can be understood and applied today by any thinking person. Changing the time period means changing the characters and their motivations, which would destroy the internal consistency of the story (think of the great moral dilemma Hank Reardon faces with his infidelity, a theme that is almost irrelevant in today's setting but which was central to the social setting of the 1950's and central to understanding Reardon and about half of the book). You can't write that out of existence and make the story hang together.
Be true to the story and the setting, or write your own story and call it something else, because it most certainly won't be Atlas Shrugged.

A television series is probably the very BEST way to present the story of Atlas Shrugged, for several reasons:

1) The book is neatly divided into three parts, each containing ten chapters; each chapter is further subdivided into asterisk-separated "sub-chapters", making it easy to tailor each episode into a one- or two-hour time slot;

2) Television is the medium Ayn Rand enjoyed the most---and it is the medium able to reach the greatest number of viewers;

3) Each of the book's three parts can easily be tailored to fit into a three-season format, the first two of which can be season-ending cliff-hangers;

4) By stretching out the story over a period of three years, important sections of the book---such as the childhood scenes of Dagny, Francisco, and James growing up together and becoming adults and forming their values (or becoming a social metaphysician in James' case), the reasons (and full dialogue) behind Cherryl's suicide, etc.; and

5) A narrative thread could be employed explaining, in her own words, the meanings behind the actions on-screen---how, e.g., Cherryl's suicide was not her abandonment of her life and values, not her giving up, but the only act of integrity and honoring of her values that she had left.

Television is THE medium for presenting Atlas Shrugged!

If the series writers are able and willing they could use techniques that others have exploited, but it requires modern characters that aren't in AS.
Create characters that modern audience can identify with, and after that setup, subject them to the injustices created by looterism. The characters have to be woven into the story and could play some small part in the move to strike, for example. Rand didn't show many minor characters who joined the strike but there had to be more of them for the Gulch to be built. There could be characters like the people in this Gulch, too, who see things differently from experience and want to earn a part in a free society. John Galt didn't have time to pick every resident in the Gulch.

I agree with another reader "that it should start in the 50's and fast forward through the decades to "The Day After Tomorrow" to give the younger audience a basis for what happened to get us to where we are today.'

What is Atlas Shrugged really? To many people, it is a philosophy presented in the form of a novel to gain wider readership. Since it has sold more copies than most other books and has impressed many to adopt the vision of it's philosophy, I think it is a success. Those that believe in objectivism and those that enjoyed the story have wanted to "see" it for a long time. The trilogy was very brave but due to the limitations of theatrical presentations too many compromises had to be made. While mini series were popular at one time (Roots, The Thornbirds, etc.), current lifestyles became such that people did not have the time or a regular schedule to follow a long series. Netflix, DVR's, etc. have changed all that and Downton Abbey, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Mad Men, etc. have been very successful and has created a new guilty pleasure called binge-watching.

Let's say we were doing a mini-series based on one of the best selling books, like The Holy Bible. Would we want it set in the "day after tomorrow?" I think not. Atlas Shrugged is more than a novel and I think it deserves to be presented EXACTLY as it was written. If not, perhaps we can do a mini-series on Gone With The Wind set in modern downtown Atlanta too.

There's no outstanding reason not to put it in its original setting. Even from that point in time, it still showed a forward style of thinking that goes beyond even today. It's just that now we can see the edge of the cliff more clearly then people at the time the book was written. So it's my belief that the setting of the fifties will only put a more powerful context to the story.

In a decent world, the idea would be wonderful, but today's world is NOT decent. IT is decadent.
If this comes to fruition, I fear that "circumstances" will result in a "watering down" of the premise of Galt's Gulch. I fear it will weaken, and the WEAKENED idea will be touted as "what could you expect? It's a loony idea anyway and only crazies would think otherwise." I've seen a lot of caving by people over the years, and I fear a TV series could totally destroy the premise of Ayn Rand's philosophy and great books.

Let me start by saying this is amazing news and I couldn't be excited about the potential for not only great television,but the possibility to change the world for some viewers.

For myself, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, as a fan I would love it to be set in the 1950's.

On the other hand, I think it is very important to attempt to make it relevant to today if you are going to reach people who are around my age (32) or earlier. I fear that if it is set in the 1950's a lot of people will miss the relevance to the way things are today.

I look at this television series the same way that I looked at the movies, any chance to spread the ideas of Ayn Rand is an opportunity to change some peoples way of thinking if they think at all.

Stick to the story. You can explain that it was written back in the 1950's and was futurist at that time and now is an alternative history somewhat like Robert Heinlein or other classic speculative fiction writers (even Star Trek). Don't change the characters and plot as your movies did. I understand the limits of such short times but a series could take the time to do it right. You won't satisfy anyone completely but you could make a series that would actually present the story and characters as Ayn Rand wrote them. To update it would destroy much of plot and background. It should seem timeless. So, you don't need old cars or dresses, but depending on cell phones and computers would not fit into a time when TV was just becoming used, the highways had not been built, long distance fast planes were not available and railroads were essential. How could you hide from modern detection? How could Dagny get lost with her cell phone handy? Today no one cares who has sex and that was definitely part of the plot - it has to be a piece in its time to keep the plot. And that must be explained. Otherwise don't mess with something you can't improve on.

Thanks for your excellent reply. In my long and varied career, I was editor of a comic book co. that did mainly biographies. Writing a comic book actually a graphic novel is very much akin to a screenplay in that description and voice must be described panel by panel. In any case, if I can offer any help, such as story boarding I'd be glad to do so.

I am currently rereading Atlas Shrugged and I am acutely aware of the language and references that are specific to the 1950's. Rand's language is often dismissed today because it sounds forced and hollow in a contemporary setting. But in the 1950's, the term "inter office communicator" would still be valid, as would references to train travel.
I think Atlas Shrugged would play very well based in the 1950's and presented as an alternate history, or a predictive history.

Make it now, and make it relevant, use it to illustrate AR principles and objections to the current status quo. There is SO much material to work with, you probably have enough for a season just of the current crap going on. Weave it into the story, but a loose framework will allow you to wander some, like an episode on how Thompson's party sold "automatic voter registration" and another where they pass "mandatory voting", etc.. So much real things today that could be worked in and maybe get some of the sheep to think!

Minimum screen time - at least 30 hours. 3 seasons of 10 episodes each, roughly along the lines of the 3 parts of the book.
The movie trilogy cuts out way too much. Dozens of pages on Dagny and Francisco's childhood romance, for example, get compressed into the briefest references.
There is scope to expand on the characters in ways that are consistent with their depiction in the book and its themes. For example, Judge Narragansett, a significant minor character (who is completely omitted from the all-too-brief movie trilogy).
And, I would set it in the 2030s.

An Atlas Shrugged series is awesome news! I also like the idea of a period piece, and ideally one with a twist, like the steam punk or dieselpunk (art deco, 1940s) ideas mentioned by others.

Herb, I've been reading posts down to this one and thinking about the original question, too... Your comment sparked one of the only replies that I think I could make... and it's complicated. I hope it doesn't get lost here in the middle of the thread, since adding it as a new comment would push it to the bottom... whatever... here goes.

First, I don't think anyone here would disagree that a series-length TV type of show wouldn't be better to encompass the power and breadth of the AS message. A lot had to be excised to even fit into three two-hour movies.

One problem I foresee is that today's 'mentality' and demographics make a decision or strategy of 'where and when to place the epic' very challenging.

Put it in the '50s when steam engines ran regularly and there's lots of color and nostalgia.. most of which would be lost on 'today's kids.'

Place it in the future and the entire tone of AS would have to be dramatically changed, and that brings its own hazards and challenges, too.

But your suggestion plus amhunt's, too, sparked this idea for me...

Place the Serial Version of AS in the present or near future. Then use the currently common and fairly popular Time Travel trick to Look Back in History to show How We Got Here and how AR's 'predictions' have come true in spades.

Current-day examples abound, from expanding government, ineffective programs and horrible 'leadership.'

The seeds of these weeds might be demonstrated in a story line that shows how they started, grew and took over the otherwise fertile fields we lived in and on.

I doubt that the flavor of AS could be carried faithfully along such a story line, but part of me is trying to figure out how the Messages we so desperately want to be understood by today's movers and shakers (and near-future ones, too) can be introduced to their minds before they're totally corrupted.

Like the way I've been trying to pollute my grandson's mind, steeped in his liberal family's values...

I challenge him with Socratic questions to push him to look at "Well, How/Why Does THAT happen?" and to NOT take the First Answer that pops up.

I maintain that, if an AS series/program can possibly be Effective, we need to decide what Change We're Trying To Effect! For me, it's a Return To Critical Thinking... seeing the reality of actions and consequences and Especially Unintended Consequences.

We have an opportunity, here, to deliver a possibly world-changing legacy which could literally end up benefitting billions of people.

Please, let's not fuck it up.



And, of course, I fancy myself as a wonderful editor and screenwriter, so I'd love to be part of a review team that tries to make at least the dialogue sound like words that human beings might say in real life. I still can't forgive that failure I remember from one of Eddie Willer's lines in AS1... that was my reaction to just a small part of his speech... "Humans Don't Talk That Way... Who Wrote that and Who let it stay in the script?!"

.... in my dreams.
Cheers, all...
Alan Falk
plusaf.

Excellent -- I am making the same commitment!

Dear Scott,

This is great news.

It seems to me that you should want to appeal to the largest possible audience. You also should want to make the story feel as real today as possible.

My understanding of the viewership age distributions suggests that you would want something that does not generate interest based on nostalgia but something that will make the anticipated collapse feel real. Huge numbers of people were not yet born in 1950s. Consider Dagny running an airline if that is what it takes. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with making it a 1950s story. But, PLEASE, hire absolutely that best screenplay writer that you can get interested in the project and pay them what their worth is. The whole project does not have to be narrowly time specific. It's the fundamental story of people's characters and actions (or inactions) in a social turmoil not too far from ours presently. It's the first class visual story telling and first class personality portrayals that will sell the whole story (and DVD, oops! - Blu-ray disks.) After all, the book still sells very well.

Look at the success of Downton Abbey. First class writing plus first class acting plus first class cinematography successful TV series make. Meticulous scenery composition and costumes as a bonus. A Universal affiliate in England produced it, I think. Perhaps Universal could get interested and let you learn from their success.

The moochers and the looters do not need to be caricatures. There are plenty of politicians and others on TV recordings to use as models.

Just my opinions. I will commit right now to purchase all the seasons you produce, in Blu-ray.

With best wishes, sincerely
Maritimus

So, where's the jobs posting?

If you look around you, many baby boomers grew up during the 50s, and transformed industrial society to what we see around us now. When I started college, we used slide rules. A calculator wasn't even a twinkle in anyone's eye, and computers were the size of rooms. Today, your smartphone has more power than those computers. We even made it to the Moon, using what today would be completely obsolete technology. The mini-series should cover the changes that have occurred from the 50s to "tomorrow." If the creativity discussed by Ayn Rand can be shown in the technology around us today, it should be easier for the average person to understand, in concrete, easily understood terms, the ideas espoused in Atlas Shrugged. So, Francisco, Dagny, Eddie, Hank, John, Ragnar, et al should all be baby boomers, starting in the 50s, continuing through today, and taking us to a possible tomorrow. You can even use the fact that technology has reduced economies of scale, to enable highly successful small companies, and breakthroughs in bioengineering and other technologies are promising a future only dreamed of in our wildest fantasies.

Hell, I'm up for another kickstarter!

What a terrific idea. It will, however, require some top notch screen writers with permission and a mandate to alter the focus of the story. AR wrote AS as a 1%er, about 1%ers, for 1%ers. To have the correct impact it will need to be written for the rest of us though tying in with real modern day 1%ers (e.g. Trump) Maybe from the perspectives of Eddie and Cheryl. Of course movement to here and now will be required and maybe some set up as to the rebirth of rail travel -- not tied to the boondoggle of high speed rail.
Success!!

every time a bible story is in TV like histories the Bible and NBCs "A.D." They get ratings. Tough to get more historical than those tales.

Lauren Bacall was a huge Adlai Stevenson fan. According to her autobiography. Having her as Dagny would be like getting her now. She'd rather die first.