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Script Sales: What do a prince, a monster and Jon Favreau have in common?
Filed under: New Line, Scripts, DIY/Filmmaking, ScriptSales
There are so many scripts being pitched, bought and sold each week that it's hard to keep up with it all. Here, I'm going to try and pluck out the ones that aren't talked about as much in order to give you an idea of what Hollywood may or may not have in store for the future. Let's face it: Just because a script is sold does not, in any way, mean it's going to be made. So why don't we try and guess which of these future projects will eventually make their way in front of a camera...or not.
- The Prince and the Pauper - Oh, that's right - they're doing another one. You know the drill: Complete opposites trade places for a night and somehow better themselves by living a day in the other's shoes. No plot details as of yet, but Jeffrey Hatcher will adapt Twain and Mark Gordon is attached to produce. Verdict: Won't get made.
- Killing on Carnival Row - Man, I love it when a spec script is sold by a first-time writer. However, in most cases, it's not a first-time writer and the damn thing never gets made. Oh well, a boy can dream, right? Written by Travis Beacham, the story is said to be set in the future and surround a town in which its citizens are both human and, well, not so human. When a serial killer attacks, someone or something has to stop it. New Line picked it up with Arnold and Anne Kopelson will produce. Verdict: Won't get made.
- Johnny Zero - Jon Favreau will write and direct this action-drama for Columbia Pictures which is said to be based on the birth of the hot-rod movement after World War II. Hot-rods are pretty cool, but the title reminds of me of some canceled television show from the early 90's. Verdict: Will get made.
- Monster of the Midway - A biopic based on Jim Dent's book Monster of the Midway: Bronko Nagurski, the 1943 Chicago Bears and the Greatest Comeback Ever. Although I'm not too familiar with the guy, I do love the name Bronko and am always up for a good comeback story. Clancy Sigal and Janice Tidwell will adapt. Verdict: Won't get made.
- Chasing Dinner - Donald Petrie will direct this script written by Bruce Evans and Ray Gideon, which revolves around three pigs who escape the knife, only to go on the lam spurring a media circus in a small town during the holiday season. It's being listed as a romantic comedy right now (tell me someone falls in love with a pig?) and was bought by the Yari Film Group. Verdict: Will get made.
There's Something About Pete Jones
Filed under: Comedy, Deals, Scripts, ScriptSales
Pete Jones, best known as the first time writer/director in way over his head during Project Greenlight's first season, has finally picked himself up and landed a high six-figure deal for his script, Hall Pass. Deciding to lay off the Irish-American family dramas for the time being, Jones went after the "easy money" with a high-concept comedy picked up by none other then funnymen Peter and Bobby Farrelly. The brothers, who will produce the pic, may also wind up directing this spec script (yay for original ideas!) about a husband who is allowed a "free pass" by his wife to, well, get down and do the nasty with another woman. I would imagine things don't go so well from that point on.ScriptSales: Black Belt Club, Cat's Cradle, Big House and Tokyo Ghost Story
Filed under: ScriptSales
The Black Belt Club
follows Max, a young black belt, who is
invited to join the Black Belt Club, a secret team of young karate
students. He lacks confidence in his abilities; but despite his
insecurity, he joins them on a journey to a mystical land where they
must rescue the world-sustaining Tree of Life. Its trunk holds seven
wheels of power, which are stolen by the villainous Master Mundi. Hand
Picked Films & Gravity Entertainment bought Dawn Barnes' children's
book for mid-six figures. Hand Picked and Gravity plan to turn this
12-book franchise into an
animated television series, direct-to-DVD movies, video games and
feature films.
ScriptSales: Teacher of the Year, Death of Innocence and Wedding Olympics
Filed under: ScriptSales
New Line Cinema greenlit Teacher of the Year, a comedy which follows two junior high school instructors who compete in a brutal battle to take teacher of the year honors. Television writer Jeff Bushell wrote the script which was developed at Nash Entertainment. Ice Cube will most likely star.- State Street Pictures bought the rights to Death of Innocence, to be based on a memoir written by Mamie Till Mobley and Christopher Benson. The boom follows the true story of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old whose 1955 murder by Mississippi racists for whistling at a white woman became a catalyst for the civil rights movement. The story is told through the eyes of Till's mother, Mamie Till Mobley. Christopher Benson wrote the dramatic script with, David Barr and Raymond Thomas. Price for Peach and A Remarkable Promise director James Moll will helm the project.
- Robert Cort. Prods. bought Wedding Olympics based off a pitch. The families of the bride and groom take on a competition in a variety of physical and mental games to determine which last name the couple will take. Erica Rothschild and Bronwyn Garrity are writing the script based on a concept behind Garrity's upcoming real-life wedding. Sounds interesting.
Script Sales: Emily the Strange, Beggars Inc and more
Filed under: Scripts, ScriptSales
Twentieth Century Fox Animation has purchased the rights to Emily the Strange. which was first created as an anti-cool
sticker. Emily later found her way to skateboards, t-shirts, her own apparel line,
three bestsellers and an upcoming comic book. Creator Rob Reger will write the script, which
centers on a rail-thin 13-year-old whose clothes are as black as her
hair and as dark as the tone of her adventures. The dark comedy will be
filmed with a mixture of live action and animation.
Script Sales: The Harris Co takes on the world
Filed under: ScriptSales
- Paramount Pictures announced a remake of the 1973 psychological thriller Don’t Look Now. The original follows a couple who go to Venice, Italy, to recuperate after their daughter's death and find themselves confronted with visual premonitions that may reveal their daughter's presence. Andrea Berloff worte the script.
- On her deathbed, a dying young woman tells her husband and young son that she will return to them. A year later, father and son happen upon a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to the dead woman in Be With You. Warner Bros. Pictures announced a remake of the 2004 Japanese film which was based on a novel by Takuji Ichikawa. Jennifer Garner will produce and star. No word on a writer.
Script Sales: Babylon A.D.,Barking Orders, One Shot and Black Snake Moan
Filed under: ScriptSales
Twentieth Century Fox and Canal Plus bought Babylon A.D, a script inspired by Maurice Dantec’s novel Babylon Babies. In the near future, a mercenary is charged with delivering a young woman from Russia to Canada and learns that she has been manipulated by a synthetic virus and what lies inside her could doom the human race. Mathieu Kassovitz wrote the thriller, which she will also direct. Kassovitz's last sat in the directors chair for Gothika.- Lakeshore Entertainment bought Scott Sommer's Barking Orders but won't reveal any details. All we know is it's a family comedy wrote on spec and the last script Sommer sold was in 1992.
- Paramount Pictures bought rights to One Shot, the latest novel in a nine-book series by Lee Child. The novel follows an ex-military homicide investigator who seeks the truth behind what seems an open-and-shut murder case after a trained military sniper is arrested for shooting five random victims. Cild will recieve mid-six against seven figures and write the screenplay adaptation. Tom Cruise is one of the producers.
- In a high school, beauty and brains duke it out and the perception of popular changes, which makes the power structure crumble in Big Man on Campus. Columbia Pictures bought the comedy script by Gina Wendkos who also wrote The Perfect Man, The Princess Diaries movies, and the 1992 film Jersey Girl which was not directed by Kevin Smith.
- A blues guitarist, abandoned by his wife, tries to redeem the soul of a girl addicted to sex in Black Snake Moan. Paramount Classics bought Craig Brewer's script. Brewer will also direct. Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci and Justin Timberlake are in negotiations to star. Brewer is hot off writing and directing Hustle & Flow which won the audience award at Sundance.
ScriptSales: The Big Love, Valiant and Property of the State
Filed under: ScriptSales
A woman's life is sent into a tailspin when her live-in boyfriend tells her that he's in love with another. The woman is forced to re-evaluate their relationship, her theories on sex and love and her religious upbringing in The Big Love. Universal Pictures bought the rights to Sarah Dunn’s novel, which will be adapted by Wedding Planner scribes Pam Falk and Mike Ellis. Stephen Sommers, who you may know from The Mummy series and Van Helsing, will be producing the romantic drama. Sommers is kinda an odd choice if you ask me.- MTV Films & Paramount Pictures bought the rights to the Holly Black penned novel - Valiant. The story follows a 17-year-old runaway who befriends a group of teens living in the New York subways and discovers that some of Gotham's inhabitants are a magical species trying to exist in the modern world. Black will adapt the tale into a screenplay.
- DreamWorks bought Howard Franklin's Property of the State for mid-$600,000 against low-$700,000 based on a pitch.The script follows a corrupt white-collar criminal who is further corrupted by the justice system. Franklin wrote Antitrust in 2001.
ScriptSales:Sherlock's Secretary, Angel Makers and more
Filed under: Disney, Paramount, ScriptSales
A man living at Sherlock Holmes' London address, 221B Baker St., decides to take on a case from one of the many letters sent from all over the world asking the great detective for help in solving real life crimes. In becoming a detective, his whole life is turned upside down in Sherlock's Secretary by writer Julie Golden. Walden Media purchased the romantic action-comedy which was inspired by actual letters that were sent to the bank that existed at that address in real life. Sounds like an interesting concept.
Script Sales: Dangerfield Biopic, Young Men and Fire, Easier, Softer Way and more
Filed under: ScriptSales
Baldwin Entertainment Group plans on making a Rodney Dangerfield biopic. They purchased Dangerfield's life rights as well as rights to his autobiography, It's Not Easy Bein’ Me. No writer or director has been attached yet, but the producers are hot off the Oscar nominated Ray Charles biopic. Rodney was a funny guy, and I just hope they bring it to the script.
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