Fox Broadcasting is in negotiations with Steven Spielberg and Peter Chernin to board the ambitious drama project Terra Nova, which is described as following a family from 100 years in the future who travel back in time 150 million years to the strange and inhospitable environs of prehistoric Earth, according to Variety.

The 20th Century Fox TV project would involve such elaborate sets and vfx that there's been talk of greenlighting it directly to series production rather than a pilot because it would be too expensive to shut down and start up again during the downtime between pilot and episodic production.

The script for Terra Nova was co-written by Craig Silverstein and British scribe Kelly Marcel, from an idea of Marcel's.

If Terra Nova gets the greenlight, Silverstein and Marcel would serve as exec producers along with Kaplan. Spielberg and Chernin would also exec produce, natch, but sources cautioned that there are no formal deals yet in place for either honcho.