Two-hour fantasy pilot
Magic Time
When technology ends, myth begins.
Created by Marc Scott Zicree and Elaine Zicree from the HarperCollins trilogy
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Explore the Showrunners Network campaignExpanded synopsis
When technology ends, myth begins.
Cal Griffin is an idealistic young lawyer trying to hold together a career, a conscience and a home for his orphaned sister Tina. Then every machine stops. Electricity, communications and transportation vanish at once, while people across the world begin to awaken to powers and transformations once confined to myth.
Tina's change is luminous and terrifying. Her visions connect her to the force sweeping westward across America, and the wave eventually carries her away. Cal refuses to accept that she is lost. He leaves New York with mechanic and climber Colleen Brooks, Ukrainian physician Viktor 'Doc' Lysenko and the eccentric mystic Goldie, played by Doug Jones.
Their journey crosses a transformed nation where old systems have fallen and inner character has become visible. Cal's ruthless boss Ely Stern changes into a dragon-like creature, but physical transformation is only one form of revelation. Magic Time asks whether catastrophe merely destroys civilization or exposes the courage, cruelty and wonder that were already inside it.
The old world gives way
When technology ends, myth walks back in.
Across a transformed America, Cal searches for his sister as creatures of myth emerge from the people around him.
The old world gives way to myth · PrevisualizationThemes
The questions driving the story
Theme
Found family on the road
Cal, Colleen, Doc and Goldie become a caravan held together by choice rather than circumstance.
Theme
Technology and wonder
The end of machines is terrifying, but it opens a world where imagination and responsibility have physical force.
Theme
Transformation reveals character
New bodies and powers externalize truths people could previously hide.
Theme
The search for Tina
A brother's promise creates the emotional spine of an epic journey across a remade America.
Characters
The people at the heart of the story
Cal Griffin
An idealistic lawyer whose conscience becomes a survival skill when law and infrastructure disappear.
Tina Griffin
Cal's younger sister, whose transformation and visions connect her to the source of the worldwide change.
Colleen Brooks
A practical mechanic and climber who adapts quickly when the modern world stops working.
Viktor 'Doc' Lysenko
A Ukrainian physician turned street vendor whose medical judgment and hard-won resilience steady the group.
Goldie
An eccentric, uncanny traveler played by Doug Jones, who recognizes the shape of the new world before anyone else.
Ely Stern
Cal's powerful boss, whose transformation into something dragon-like magnifies the appetite and control already within him.
Previsualization
Scenes from the story
Explore key moments from the story in these previsualization images. Select an image to enlarge it.
Original concept art
Iain McCaig imagines the transformed world
Meet the transformed travelers and creatures of Magic Time through Iain McCaig’s original drawings. Select any image for a closer look.
Featured art is credited individually below.
The books behind the series
Read the complete Magic Time trilogy
The screen project grows from the published novels Magic Time, Angelfire and Ghostlands. Enter the world now, or choose the signed and personalized set through the campaign.
Available now
Find the novels on Amazon
Follow the journey across an America transformed by the return of magic.
Browse the Magic Time books
Kickstarter reward
Get the signed trilogy
Choose the complete book series signed and personalized by Marc Scott Zicree.
See the signed trilogy rewardCreative team
Writers, producers and artists
Marc Scott Zicree
Founder, writer, director and producer
Attached to: Magic Time
A five-decade genre storyteller, author and filmmaker who has written and produced for landmark science-fiction series while building independent worlds with audiences.
Elaine Zicree
Founder, writer, director and producer
Attached to: Magic Time
A filmmaker, writer, producer and actor coach who co-leads Space Command Studios and The Table, and is directing the feature When the Voiceless Roar.
Iain McCaig
Concept artist and visual designer
Attached to: Magic Time
A legendary concept designer and illustrator whose character and world design has shaped modern fantasy and science fiction.
Attached performers
The actors bringing the story to life
Doug Jones
Actor - Goldie
Attached to: Magic Time
One of cinema's most celebrated physical performers, attached to play the mysterious traveler Goldie in Magic Time.
Photo credit
Photo by Gage Skidmore. Source photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source image displayed without additional cropping.
Christina Moses
Actor
Attached to: Magic Time
A dramatic actor whose television work combines emotional depth, strength and vivid character presence.
Armin Shimerman
Actor
Attached to: Magic Time
A distinguished stage, screen and voice actor whose characters have become touchstones of genre television and gaming.
Photo credit
Photo by Super Festivals. Source photograph, CC BY 2.0. Source image displayed without additional cropping.
Production readiness
Built to move forward
The story world includes a complete two-hour pilot, three published HarperCollins novels, audio productions and extensive Iain McCaig concept design.
