Nick Meyer working on space race drama

Filmmaker Nicholas Meyer has hooked up with new production company Primeridian Entertainment to create a TV drama about the space race between the US and the USSR.

Meyer (The Seven-Per-Cent Solution) is writing a currently untitled pilot ahead of a potential series, which will cover the collapse of Nazi Germany at the end of World War II through to the space race of the 1960s.

The news follows Primeridian founder Arcadiy Golubovich and partner Tim O’Hair, a former studio exec, optioning rights to Matthew Brzezinski’s account of the space race, Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Race.

Producers say they are bringing in “numerous well-known experts” from the US and Russia to assist with the project. Among these is the son of former Soviet premier Nikita Khruyschev.

“Given my Russian heritage, I’m particularly excited to see Nick Meyer weave together both sides of the story with a balanced approach, creating the most comprehensive and exciting retelling of the space race for television,” said Golubovich.

Primeridian is a production financier that launched recently with a feature film based on the life of dissident Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsy. The firm plans to finance and produce between two and four projects per year.