Mystery Team director prepping episode of Community, adaptation of D.C. Pierson novel

A rising Donald Glover lifts all Derrick Comedy boats, as the breakout member of the troupe behind the absurdist thriller Mystery Team continues to beat a path to similar fame for his cohorts—most obviously through Community, where Mystery Team director Dan Eckman is set to direct the NBC show’s thirteenth episode this fall. Collider spoke to Eckman after hearing the news, where Eckman also revealed that he’s currently prepping his Mystery Team follow-up: an adaptation of The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep And Never Had To, the sci-fi-flavored coming-of-age novel from fellow Derrick Comedy member (and occasional Community guest) D.C. Pierson. Eckman and fellow troupe member Meggie McFadden—whose first name always makes us want to follow it with “[sic],” sorry—worked with Pierson on the script, which concerns a boy whose inability to sleep puts him on the run from government agents and, eventually, mutant extraterrestrials. Though it's still being pitched to production companies, it sounds like the sort of concept a studio will love, so long as there are no cowboys in it.