VIZ Media and global talent and literary agency United Talent Agency have signed a deal to develop live-action programming based on the Viz anime and manga portfolio.  VIZ Chief Marketing Officer Brad Woods commented on the deal.  "UTA is an innovator that shares our vision, and their proven track record and strong relationships throughout the domestic and international entertainment sectors will be important factors as we move forward," he said.

This new deal has the potential to add television to the growing Hollywood pipeline of movie projects based on anime and manga properties, which currently includes Death Note (see "Geek Movie News Round-Up") and Ghost in the Shell, starring Scarlett Johansson (see "'Ghost in the Shell' Gets New Writer"); and at earlier stages of development, Naruto (see "Lionsgate Preps 'Naruto' Movie") and Akira (see "Starting Over on 'Akira' Movie").  But geek TV is on fire right now, from The Walking Dead to Game of Thrones plus all of the Marvel and DC programming across multiple networks and much more, so the time seems right to also make a push on anime and manga-based live action programming.