American independent production company Skydance Television announced that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Patrick Massett and John Zinman (Friday Night Lights executive producers, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider writers) for the pair to serve as writers, showrunners, and executive producers on Skydance television projects, including Skydance's live-action Sword Art Online (SAO) series.

Massett and Zinman are joining Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Terminator Genisys) in writing the pilot script, and are executive producing along with Kalogridis and Skydance's Marcy Ross, David Ellison, and Dana Goldberg.

Skydance Television President Ross commented, "We're already deep in development with Patrick, John, and Laeta on our larger than life Skydance SAO series, in which we aim not only to satisfy the franchise's enthusiastic sci-fi and anime fan base but also to appeal to new TV audiences the world over."

Skydance announced the series adaptation of Reki Kawahara's Sword Art Online light novels in August 2016. Skydance Interactive is also planning a Sword Art Online virtual reality experience after the television series. Skydance Media CEO Ellison said at the time of the announcement that the company is planning "a full-scale and wide-ranging set of live action franchise extensions across our business verticals."

Source: Deadline (Greg Evans), The Hollywood Reporter (Bryn Elise Sandberg)