EXCLUSIVE: Slam!, a graphic novel series set in the world of all-female roller derby, is being adapted as an animated series for HBO Max.
Pamela Ribon, who co-created the comic with Veronica Fish and co-wrote feature films including Moana and Ralph Breaks the Internet, is adapting her book, with WarnerMedia-owned Rooster Teeth Studios, BOOM! Studios and Minnow Mountain.
The half-hour series, set in the fast-paced, hard-hitting, super-cheeky, all-female world of banked track roller derby, follows two young women who will have to decide if their budding friendship is stronger than the pull of a team when a win is on the line.
It will be made using a combination of rotoscoped and 3D animation, with Craig Staggs and Steph Swope’s Minnow Mountain — the Texas-based studio behind Amazon’s Undone — animating.
The Slam! comic book originally was published by BOOM! Studios, which is also behind the live-action adaptation R.L. Stine graphic novel series Just Beyond for Disney+ and Jake Gyllenhaal’s Snow Blind, which is now with Apple.
It is the latest project for Rooster Teeth Studios, which is in production for Season 2 of gen:LOCK for HBO Max and Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy currently airing on Netflix
Ribon, who was a writer on ABC’s Samantha Who?, brings personal experience to the material, having skated with the L.A. Derby Dolls for several years. She adapted her graphic novel My Boyfriend Is a Bear as a feature film screenplay and is attached to direct for Legendary and Atlas Entertainment. She also is adapting her memoir Notes to Boys (And Other Things I Shouldn’t Share in Public) as an animated series for FX’s Cake.
“I’m so fortunate to have the coolest, talented-est, Austin-est animation studios in the world partnering to bring Slam! to life as a television series,” she said. “Billy Wee and the team at HBO Max geeked out just as hard as we did when talking about where this could go in storytelling and animation. That’s when we knew we’d found the perfect home. We’re so excited to make this rough and tumble, emotional, honest show about what it means to surrender your life, and your knees, to roller derby.”
Added Ryan P. Hall, Head of Rooster Teeth Studios: “We are beyond thrilled to be working with BOOM! Studios and Minnow Mountain to bring Slam! to life in animation. Pam Ribon is one of the best storytellers in the business and Slam! is a truly inspiring story, so we can’t wait to share this world with the HBO Max audience.”
Ribon is repped by CAA and Alex Hertzberg at Atlas Literary, Rooster Teeth Studios is represented by CAA, BOOM! Studios is represented by UTA and attorney Matt Saver.