Sunset Lane Media and Evil Genius Games have agreed to develop film and television projects from the tabletop role-playing game Everyday Heroes, the companies told Deadline. Sunset Lane will lead the screen development process, starting with the more than 50 published adventures in the game’s universe.
For screen buyers, the pitch is straightforward: this IP arrives with documented fan engagement, genre flexibility and a relatively low entry cost compared with adapting a video game engine. Evil Genius has spent the period since 2023 testing story worlds in front of players, and now Sunset Lane takes the strongest ones into the script stage.
What the library contains
Since launching in 2023, Evil Genius has published more than 50 Everyday Heroes adventures. The range spans action, international espionage, horror, martial arts, post-apocalyptic stories and Westerns – effectively a genre slate housed inside one property.
David Scott, CEO and co-founder of Evil Genius Games, calls tabletop RPGs “storytelling laboratories” because the company can quickly try dramatically different kinds of stories. Players have spent millions of hours experiencing those worlds, he said, and that play time functions as a form of audience research most screen projects never receive.
Why it matters for media and entertainment planners
Hollywood has spent years chasing pre-sold audiences in comics, novels and video games. Tabletop RPGs sit at a useful intersection: they are cheaper to publish than many video games, yet they can still generate lore, characters and fan communities that studios can cite when a project is being packaged.
For media planners, the deal is a reminder that audience data does not always look like a ratings panel. It can look like play hours logged inside a game world. The tabletop audience may be smaller than a film audience, but it is deeply engaged, and that matters when a series needs an early core audience.
- The library is broad enough to support a grounded espionage series, a horror feature or a post-apocalyptic franchise.
- Existing player hours give buyers an engagement signal before a script is even commissioned.
- Lightning Snow Media founder Marisa Bryce, who introduced the two companies, stays involved as the relationship expands.
David Beaubaire, founder and CEO of Sunset Lane Media, said the most valuable IP in entertainment has often been hiding in plain sight. He called Everyday Heroes a perfect example.
What to watch next
No financial terms, talent attachments or greenlit projects were announced. The two companies are still identifying which characters, concepts, worlds and stories from the broader universe move forward first.
The practical signal for planners is to watch which module gets packaged before a title is commissioned. A non-fantasy choice – say, an espionage series or a Western – would stand out in a market still crowded with high-fantasy adaptations. Treat the player-hours figure as pre-awareness data rather than waiting for a greenlight.
Source: Deadline
