ABC Buys How To Survive A Plague For Possible Mini-Series Development

Rights to the Oscar-nominated How To Survive A Plague have been purchased by ABC with the intent of turning the gripping documentary into a mini-series.

France's widely acclaimed doc, which he co-wrote and directed, focuses on two coalitions -- ACT UP and Treatment Action Group (TAG) -- whose activism and innovation helped turn AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to real-world patients in record time. Ideally, the scripted adaptation, which is in its early days of development, will go broader and deeper. “We know we’d like it to be an extended story that’s not just about AIDS and what AIDS wrought but about this tremendous civil rights movement that grew from the ashes of AIDS and the dawn of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement,” France tells The Hollywood Reporter.

The casting should prove quite interesting.