Collective Digital Studio buys rights to 'Maximum Ride' franchise

Collective Digital Studio buys rights to ‘Maximum Ride’ franchise

Fiction writer James Patterson came to Venice High School to encourage students to read and gave away copies of "The Angel Experiement" from his "Maximum Ride" series, in May 2012.

July 9, 2014 10:18 AM PT

July is shaping up to be a good month for bestselling author James Patterson.

Less than two weeks after CBS said it will adapt Patterson’s book “Zoo” into a series, Collective Digital Studio, a YouTube multichannel network, announced it has secured online rights for Patterson’s young adult franchise “Maximum Ride.”

“James Patterson is not only one of the world’s most successful authors, he is also a publishing visionary, which is why we approached him about bringing ‘Maximum Ride’ to life online,” said Gary Binkow, partner and chief content officer of CDS, in a statement.

The fantasy series follows Max, an avian-human hybrid who escapes from the lab where he was raised. The series shares a fan base similar to “Divergent,” “Hunger Games” and “The Fault in Our Stars.”

With YouTube as the platform, Binkow said fans “won’t have to wait forever as we won’t be bogged down by the typical studio development process.”

Patterson, who holds a Guinness world record for having the most bestsellers to hit No. 1 on the New York Times list, also expressed enthusiasm.

“‘Maximum Ride’ has a massive global fan base and it is very exciting to think about connecting with them online,” he said in a statement. “I’m confident that CDS will help introduce the book series to a completely new audience as well.”

Patterson, Binkow, Leopoldo Gout and Bill Robinson will serve as executive producers of the project.

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