ABC Produces Pilot from 'Paranormal Activity' Filmmaker

Paranormal Activity filmmaker Oren Peli is headed to the small screen, according to Deadline.com. ABC has signed a pilot commitment with the thrill-master to produce The River.

The River is a thriller drama akin to Paranormal Activity based on mysterious happenings on the Amazon River. One description of the series being circulated is when a famous TV personality goes missing and is presumed dead in the Amazon, his friends search for him on their state-of-the-art research vessel, but nothing official has been released yet.

ABC won the project after a bidding war with NBC. It will be produced by ABC and Dreamworks TV, the studio that discovered Peli and Paranormal Activity, his mega-hit film that was made on a $15,000 budget.

Peli developed the idea with Michael R. Perry, who has written for Law & Order: SVU and also wrote the Paranormal sequel, expected in theaters October 22. Perry will be writing the pilot script while Peli will produce and possibly direct.

Fun Fact: ABC must think the Amazon River is quite the supernatural place. In its other new project, No Ordinary Family, the Powell family gains special abilities after their plane crashes into the Amazon River.