"Jaws" scribe Peter Benchley has inked a deal with Atlantis Films to develop a syndie action-adventure series, "Amazon," revolving around a group of plane crash survivors who encounter a lost tribe in the Brazilian jungle.
Toronto-based Atlantis will shop the project to foreign buyers and potential U.S. distributors later this week at the Mip TV confab in Cannes. Atlantis will handle worldwide distribution outside the U.S. "Amazon" is targeted for a fall 1999 debut.
The series opens with the fiery crash of a commercial airliner deep in the Amazon jungle. The handful of survivors eventually run into a tribal group of Caucasian descent whose ancestors were marooned in the jungle after a shipwreck some 400 years earlier.
Benchley says he came up with the idea for "Amazon" while vacationing in the Caribbean several years ago when he stumbled across centuries-old buttons and other artifacts buried in the sand.
"I've always been interested in what would happen with the culture clash of modern folks running into people who live outside of civilization," said Benchley. "We thought this series would be a good way to explore the issue of the intrusion of modern society into the (rain forest) environment."
Benchley's most recent TV credits include the highly rated NBC miniseries "The Beast," the CBS series "Dolphin Cove" and ABC's upcoming May sweeps mini, "Peter Benchley's Creature."
Benchley is repped by ICM's Martha Luttrell. His deal with Atlantis was brokered by ICM's Steve Wohl and Carrie Stein.
Contact Cynthia Littleton at
cynthia.littleton@variety.com