I've always tended more toward "Protecter" for an sci-fi action adventure Hollywood treatment
I think that the Sci Fi Channel should buy up Niven's entire catalog. Think of the wealth of stories available by creating a whole series based on "Tales of The Known Universe".
Think of all the characters and races and planets in Known Space...Louis Wu, Pril, The Kzin, The Puppeteers, the Jinxians...heck, you could do a nifty two hour movie out of "A Gift From Earth". I'd love to see a one hour episode done from the story "Relic of The Empire".
Any one of the stories from "Neutron Star" would be a great one hour episode of an anthology series like the one that was done with Ray Bradbury's stories. Some of those were great.
They would have material and guaranteed high ratings for a decade.