SYFY TO DEVELOP "51ST 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, 51st 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 51st 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?

Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in 96 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. (Syfy. Imagine Greater.)