Evil Genius Games and Sunset Lane Media team up to bring Everyday Heroes to film and TV

Evil Genius Games has teamed up with independent film and television company Sunset Lane Media to develop projects based on Everyday Heroes. The companies are looking through the tabletop RPG’s catalogue for characters, settings and stories that could work on screen. They also plan to develop original properties, some of which could debut as tabletop games before going into film or television development.

Sunset Lane, founded by producer and former studio executive David Beaubaire, will lead screen development alongside Evil Genius and its creative partners. The companies say they are already meeting with writers about potential projects. The announcement names no specific films, series, writers or distribution partners. Further announcements are expected in the coming months.

From movie licences to screen development

Everyday Heroes launched in 2023 as a modern-day successor to d20 Modern, updated for fifth-edition play. Its licensed Cinematic Adventures have already brought films including The Crow and Pacific Rim to the tabletop. The new deal opens a route in the other direction, with Sunset Lane looking for material within the wider Everyday Heroes catalogue to develop for the screen.

Evil Genius has published more than 50 adventures since launch, covering everything from international espionage and martial arts to horror, post-apocalyptic stories and Westerns. That gives the partners room to develop individual projects with very different tones.

“Tabletop role-playing games may be one of the greatest storytelling laboratories ever created,” said Evil Genius Games CEO and co-founder David Scott. The companies say player engagement could help them see which settings and stories hold people’s attention, with creative judgement guiding what moves into development.

A game could be the first release

For tabletop publishers, the most interesting part of the deal is the plan to build some original properties through play. A new world could make its debut in an adventure, then develop through further releases before a screenwriter takes it on.

Marisa Bryce, founder of Lightning Snow Media, introduced the two companies and will continue to work with them as the partnership develops. The first projects are in early development. The first named project should give a clearer sense of where the partners see the strongest material, whether that’s in a published Everyday Heroes adventure or a world still being built for the tabletop.