'Six Degrees' producers will develop the comic for TV

The award-winning comic-book series "Fables" is making its way to television, courtesy of a pilot deal with ABC.

The network has given a put pilot commitment to the project, which Raven Metzner and Stu Zicherman ("Six Degrees") will write. The show will be based on Bill Willingham's series, published by DC Comics imprint Vertigo, in which fairy-tale and folkloric characters exiled from their homelands set up an enclave in New York City.

David Semel ("Heroes," "Life") will direct, according to The Hollywood Reporter

ABC's project is the second attempt at developing the comic for TV. NBC and writer Craig Silverstein ("Bones," "K-Ville") gave it a shot in the 2006-07 development season, but the project didn't make the cut.

Zicherman and Metzner are avowed fans of "Fables." They say that Snow White and the Big Bad Wolf, who are central to the comics' early stories, will be heavily featured in their show, but they haven't yet decided which other characters will be regulars.

"We set up a structure to allow any fairy tale character to show up in any one episode," Metzner tells the HR.

Metzner and Zicherman were executive producers on ABC's "Six Degrees" a couple of seasons back. They've also worked on "What About Brian" and co-wrote the feature film "Elektra."