Frankenstein (TV): According to Variety, Martin Scorsese and author Dean Koontz are teaming up with helmer Marcus Nispel and producer Tony Krantz to resurrect Dr. Frankenstein and his monster as a weekly series for USA Network.

Cabler has greenlit production on an update of the Mary Shelley classic with a contemporary twist, ordering a two-hour pilot and four scripts of the project. USA won't formally greenlight production on the four episodes until after filming of the pilot starts, though all involved are proceeding as if "Frankenstein" will launch as an event series, most likely this fall.

Scorsese, Koontz, and Krantz ("24," "Felicity") will exec produce "Frankenstein," to be helmed by Nispel, who directed the recent remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

In a rare move, Koontz actually wrote the pilot on spec before pitching it to nets. He and Krantz both wanted to maintain as much independence during the development process as possible.

Scorsese, who's been looking to get more involved in TV, then came on board. "Frankenstein" is expected to be the producer/helmer's first on-air foray into scripted series television; he produced a nonfiction PBS miniseries on the blues last fall.

Casting will start next week for a mid-April production start date.

The series picks up in present-day Seattle, where doctor Victor Frankenstein and his creature reside, having survived the past two centuries through the doctor's genetic tinkering. Their story is augmented with that of a female cop and her partner who, through a seemingly standard homicide investigation, unravel the myth of Frankenstein.

"We're reimagining the consequences of the tale 200 years later, taking the essence of the story -- the eternal battle of good and evil and the arrogance of man -- and bringing it into today's landscape," Koontz said. "In this version, both of them have changed as society has dictated -- the doctor is less human and the creature is more human. But like the original, it still touches on the human questions we all have as far as who we are and where we are going."