Script Sales: Ivan Reitman gets to go UP IN THE AIR, Walt Disney goes to PRINCE
April 16th, 2003
Tom Pollock and Ivan Reitman 's DreamWorks Pictures-based Montecito Picture Co. has picked up author Walter Kirn's novel "Up in the Air" for Reitman to direct. Sheldon Turner's spec adaptation was optioned as well. The project is a comedy described as a story of the self-realization and self-redemption of a man who fires people professionally. Spending most of his time flying around from city to city for his job, he is six days short of accumulating $1 million in frequent-flier miles. The man sets out on one final trip to achieve his goal but gets much more than he bargained for in the process.
**********************
The Walt Disney Co. has picked up the comedy pitch "How to Become Famous in 12 Days or Less" from the writing team of Steven Gary Banks and Claudia Grazioso. Based on a Marie Claire article, the pitch is described as a female "Trading Places," and marks the sixth sale for the duo in the past 18 months. The duo had recent sales including "Daddy's Girls" to Paramount Pictures, "35 to Life" at New Line Cinema, "Are We There Yet?" to Revolution Studios and "Coeds" at Warner Bros. Pictures.
**********************
Pensmen Charles Randolph has been hired to adapt the novel "St. Agnes' Stand" for DreamWorks Pictures. The project, originally written by author Tom Eidson, has Martin Scorsese attached to direct. Based on the 1860s-set story of a reluctant hero, Nat Swanson, who is on the run from a mob of Texas cowboys after having killed one of their own. While on the run, he helps save a nun and a group of seven orphans from being attacked by Apache Indians. Randolph's other credits include the Kevin Spacey starrer "The Life of David Gale" for Universal Pictures.
**********************
The Walt Disney Co. has picked up the teen comedy pitch "Princess Boot Camp" from writer Caryn Lucas and producer Rachel Pfeffer. "Boot Camp" is a comedy about a group of spoiled teenage girls whose parents can't take their indulgent behavior anymore and send them to away to boot camp, where the "spoil" is squeezed out of them. Lucas previously co-wrote the Warner Bros. Pictures comedy "Miss Congeniality," and was a co-executive producer on the WB television series "What I Like About You."
**********************
Caroline Thompson ("Edward Scissorhands") has been hired to adapt the high-profile project "Lionboy" for DreamWorks and studio-based producers Team Todd. Thompson, who will receive a high-six-figure advance, will handle a screenplay based on the novel written by Louisa Young and her daughter Isabelle. It's set in London in the near future and centers on a boy named Charlie Ashanti who was scratched by a leopard when he was a baby and thus can communicate with cats. As a child, he teams up with a band of circus lions to track down his parents, who have been kidnapped. "Lionboy," which has drawn comparisons to "Harry Potter," is the first of three books in a series and is expected to launch a franchise for the studio. The latter two books have yet to be published and are still untitled. The tone and genre of the book are said to fit into Thompson's body of work, which includes such family adventure and fantasy films as "The Addams Family," "The Secret Garden" "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas"
(Source: Reuters/Hollywood Reporter)
**********************
The Walt Disney Co. has picked up the comedy pitch "How to Become Famous in 12 Days or Less" from the writing team of Steven Gary Banks and Claudia Grazioso. Based on a Marie Claire article, the pitch is described as a female "Trading Places," and marks the sixth sale for the duo in the past 18 months. The duo had recent sales including "Daddy's Girls" to Paramount Pictures, "35 to Life" at New Line Cinema, "Are We There Yet?" to Revolution Studios and "Coeds" at Warner Bros. Pictures.
**********************
Pensmen Charles Randolph has been hired to adapt the novel "St. Agnes' Stand" for DreamWorks Pictures. The project, originally written by author Tom Eidson, has Martin Scorsese attached to direct. Based on the 1860s-set story of a reluctant hero, Nat Swanson, who is on the run from a mob of Texas cowboys after having killed one of their own. While on the run, he helps save a nun and a group of seven orphans from being attacked by Apache Indians. Randolph's other credits include the Kevin Spacey starrer "The Life of David Gale" for Universal Pictures.
**********************
The Walt Disney Co. has picked up the teen comedy pitch "Princess Boot Camp" from writer Caryn Lucas and producer Rachel Pfeffer. "Boot Camp" is a comedy about a group of spoiled teenage girls whose parents can't take their indulgent behavior anymore and send them to away to boot camp, where the "spoil" is squeezed out of them. Lucas previously co-wrote the Warner Bros. Pictures comedy "Miss Congeniality," and was a co-executive producer on the WB television series "What I Like About You."
**********************
Caroline Thompson ("Edward Scissorhands") has been hired to adapt the high-profile project "Lionboy" for DreamWorks and studio-based producers Team Todd. Thompson, who will receive a high-six-figure advance, will handle a screenplay based on the novel written by Louisa Young and her daughter Isabelle. It's set in London in the near future and centers on a boy named Charlie Ashanti who was scratched by a leopard when he was a baby and thus can communicate with cats. As a child, he teams up with a band of circus lions to track down his parents, who have been kidnapped. "Lionboy," which has drawn comparisons to "Harry Potter," is the first of three books in a series and is expected to launch a franchise for the studio. The latter two books have yet to be published and are still untitled. The tone and genre of the book are said to fit into Thompson's body of work, which includes such family adventure and fantasy films as "The Addams Family," "The Secret Garden" "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas"
(Source: Reuters/Hollywood Reporter)
Comments
Only logged-in members can comment. You can log in or join today for free!
Advertisement
