SYFY TO DEVELOP 51^ST STATE, ONE HOUR DRAMA SERIES FROM FOX 21 TELEVISION STUDIOS

 OSCAR NOMINEE CRAIG BORTEN (DALLAS BUYERS CLUB) WILL WRITE SCRIPT AND SERVE AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER WITH PETER CHERNIN AND KATHERINE POPE

NEW YORK – January 12, 2015 – Syfy today announced it is developing a one-hour drama series about a futuristic prison society, 51^st State, from Fox 21 Television Studios.

Oscar nominee Craig Borten (Dallas Buyers Club), who sold the pitch to Syfy, will write the pilot. Peter Chernin (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Katherine Pope (New Girl) and Borten will serve as executive producers.

As 51^st State unfolds, the United States, confronting a prison population stretched to the limit, purchases Greenland and converts it into a frontier prison colony with male and female convicts incarcerated together.

Promised conditional freedom, the inmates are driven to the edge of their humanity when that promise, along with others, is broken. Struggling to seize control and exact revenge, reluctant heroes emerge — but what exactly are they fighting for?

Source: ©2015 Syfy, a division of NBC Universal. All Rights Reserved.