Two master storytellers are teaming up.

Variety reports that Stephen King and Steven Spielberg are developing a miniseries adaptation of King's new epic, "Under the Dome," which hit shelves last week.

DreamWorks has optioned the 1,100-page book, which focuses on what happens after a giant invisible dome encases a small Maine town. Cut off from the rest of the world, the locals get ugly.

I'm nearly done reading "Dome," and I think the King-Spielberg collaboration has a lot of potential, especially if the miniseries ends up on Showtime, HBO or AMC. "Dome's" got about 50 central characters and a labyrinthine narrative. A two- or even three-hour movie would be way too truncated. A miniseries is the only way to effectively tell the story.

Hopefully, an "Under the Dome" TV series would turn out a little more "Stand" and a little less, uh, "Langoliers."

This isn't King and Spielberg's first team-up. The two developed a screen adaptation of King and Peter Straub's novel "The Talisman." It remains unmade.