Allen Bain's Bainframe Harnesses 'The Man Who Sold the Moon'

EXCLUSIVE: In the second acquisition for the burgeoning sci-fi label, Allen Bain’s Bainframe has acquired rights to Robert A. Heinlein’s 1951 novella The Man Who Sold The Moon. The company will develop the timely project for television.

Bain (Two Men In Town, Revenge Of The Green Dragons) founded Bainframe to tell stories that have “the power to inspire people to dream of a better tomorrow.” This is the shingle’s second rights buy, following Octavia E. Butler’s Dawn.

Heinlein, who died in 1988, was considered the “dean of science fiction writers” and is one of the best-selling novelists ever in the genre with over 100M copies of his books and short stories sold in English. They have continued in print in 29 languages. Among his most well-known credits are Starship Troopers, Stranger In A Strange Land, and The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.

The Man Who Sold The Moon tells the tale of Delos D. Harriman, a businessman possessed by a dream to take humanity off-Earth. As a young entrepreneur, he starts a private space company to colonize the moon and create the home he never had. He is driven to the brink while single-handedly ushering the entire human race to its next evolutionary step.

“This story is inspiring because the private space race is happening now and will become a reality within a decade. This is not some far flung science fiction yarn. It is something we are going to experience in our lifetime,” says Bain. The timing coincides with yesterday’s announcement by NASA of strong evidence there is flowing water on Mars. “The Man Who Sold the Moon allows us to imagine how the space race will play out, but at its core it’s really a gripping portrait of a complex character with an impossible dream.”

Bain notes that Harriman’s journey is reminiscent of the current crop of space pioneers like Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic), Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) and Elon Musk (SpaceX) who has credited Heinlein as an inspiration.

Story by: Deadline: Hollywood