A Fans Notes Eyes TV Series Adaptation

Producer Gary Pearl is putting together a TV series project based on Frederick Exley, Jr.’s semi-autobiographical novel A Fan’s Notes. The 1968 book deals with alcoholism, shock therapy and sports fandom and chronicles a man’s life lived in abject failure while seeking fame and driving himself and all those around him down a path of destruction. “It’s a brilliantly written parable, a diary, for our time about self-destruction in pursuit of personal celebrity and ultimate fame, the kind that lasts beyond one’s lifetime,” said Pearl, who is producing with Jeffrey Shane and David Burton Morris. It took Pearl several years to track down and secure the rights to the book and then spent time trying to make it into a feature film before deciding that a series adaptation would work better, something Exley’s twin sister Francis Brown agreed to. (A Fan’s Notes was previously made into a feature in 1972 with Jerry Orbach playing Exley.) Meetings with writers are underway for the drama project, which is being targeted for basic and premium cable.