November 2001 Script Sales
March 22nd, 2004
Genre: Psychological thriller
Writer: Billy Kelly
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Purchase Price: Mid-six figures
Producer: Sunil Perkash
Logline: Loosely based on the real-life events that took place aboard a Southwest Airlines flight after a 19-year-old man became combative and subsequently died after being subdued by eight of the plane's other passengers.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Mark Perez
Buyer: DreamWorks SKG
Purchase Price: $600k / $1.2 mil
Producer: Brain Lutz
Logline: High-concept comedy in the tradition of "Planes, Trains & Automobiles."
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Kevin Bisch
Buyer: Warner Bros./ John Wells Prods.
Producer: Kristin Harms, John Wells
Logline: Story is about a cynical young man who takes a leap of faith when he believes a psychic's forecast. When the psychic tells him that he has already met his true love, he embarks on a search for the unknown woman he knows but has let slip by.
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: K.A. Hoeffner
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Purchase Price: Low-six figures
Producer: Max Wong, Karen Firestone, Patrick Faulstich
Logline: Romance between the most heavily recruited high school quarterback in Alabama and a young woman who works in the kitchen of a hot sorority -- the Welcome Wagon -- that lands top prospects to the school football program by furnishing recruits with the best weekends of their lives.
Genre: Sci-fi / Action
Writer: Ron Shusett, John Chadwell, Ian Rabin
Author: R. Ellis Frazier, Geoffrey Ross
Buyer: Ron Shusett Prods.
Purchase Price: Low-six figures
Producer: Anthony Riddio, Billy Dietrich
Logline: Set in 2091, the surviving society of a catastrophic plague rebuilds a post-apocalyptic paradise by manufacturing an underground society of cloned humans to serve as a quasi-slave labor force. This story is about the life of one particular clone laborer among the millions who while searching for meaning and illegal love, becomes the unwitting hero of an underground clone rebellion.
Additional Information: First announced on 11/09/01. This is a novella written by first-timers R. Ellis Frazier and Geoffrey Ross. Screenplay will be written by Ron Shusett, Ian Rabin and John Chadwell. This is part one of the cloning trilogy. Shusett cowrote "Alien" "Total Recall" and the upcoming Spielberg flick "Minority Report." He will serve as exec producer on this project.
Genre: Animation / Adventure
Author: John Nickle
Buyer: Universal/ Playtone Co.
Producer: Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
Logline: After soaking an ant colony with a water pistol, a little boy is shrunk down to the size of an ant and must do hard time in the colony. There he learns the value of teamwork as he tries to return to normal size.
Additional Information: Picture book published in 1999 by Scholastic. Tom Hanks' company Playtone will produce this CGI animated feature for Universal.
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Brad Kaaya, Jeff Franklin
Buyer: Twentieth Century Fox 2000
Purchase Price: Mid-six figures
Producer: Davis, John
Logline: Mixed race couple face the shock of meeting their in-laws for the first time.
Genre: Comedy / Fantasy
Writer: Craig Mazin
Buyer: Dimension Films MGM
Logline: Story of a friendly drunk Elwood P. Dowd, his imaginary six-foot rabbit friend and a sister who tries to have him committed.
Additional Information: Updated version of the 1950 film which starred Jimmy Stewart. Dimension's parent company, Miramax has owned the rights since 1996 when it purchased them from L.A. producer Don Gregory. Filmmakers hope to be faithful to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Mary Chase play which the film was based upon.
Genre: True Story
Writer: Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard
Author: Dean King
Buyer: Intermedia/ Baltimore-Spring Creek
Purchase Price: Mid-six figures
Producer: Barry Levinson, Paula Weinstein
Logline: A group of sailors are kidnapped and sold into slavery by Berber Tribesmen while attempting to cross the Sahara after their ship ran aground off the African coast. The book concentrates on the relationship between the sailors and their Muslim captors.
Additional Information: Book is being written for Little, Brown. Baltimore/Spring Creek has a first-look deal with U.K.-based Intermedia.
Genre: Action
Writer: Brad Gann
Buyer: Columbia Pics.
Purchase Price: Mid-six figures
Producer: Neal Moritz
Logline: Leader of an L.A. gang battles rival gang members as he treks across town to testify against a local politician.
Additional Information: Production will begin summer, 2002.
Genre: Drama
Author: Rebecca Reisert
Buyer: Solaris Ent.
Producer: Gavin O'Connor, Gregory O'Connor
Logline: Retelling of Macbeth through the eyes of one of the three witches, a mysterious young girl who is out for revenge.
Additional Information: Solaris Ent. is NY-based. They have a first-look deal with New Line. Book was recently published by Pocket Books.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Clement, Dick La Frenais, Ian
Buyer: Revolution Studios/ Imagine Ent.
Logline: Based on the popular TV show of the 60's, which took place in a German POW camp and starred Bob Crane.
Additional Information: Originally, Paramount purchased the rights from Rysher Ent. for producers Keith Samples, Jim Burke and Barry London, who were in talks with Icon Prods. but the project stalled. Barry London then brought the project into Destination, which recently folded. Tom Sherak from Revolution will exec produce.
Comments: UPDATE: Russell Crowe and Imagine Ent. have come aboard to develop the project with Revolution. Project was first announced on May 18, 2001.
Genre: Family
Writer: Paul Foley, Dan Forman
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Producer: Denise Di Novi
Logline: Live-action version of the popular TV series.
Additional Information: Writing team is managed by Jaret Ent.
Genre: True Story
Writer: Dan Gordon
Buyer: Intermedia Films/ Warner Bros.
Producer: Barry Levinson
Logline: Story of French general Marquis de Lafayette, who, at age 18, was a major supporter of the American military in the Revolutionary War and a surrogate son to George Washington.
Additional Information: Barry Levinson has come aboard to develop, direct and produce this project for Warner Bros. It was originally set up as a pitch at Baltimore/Spring Creek by screenwriter Dan Gordon who then went on to write the screenplay.
Genre: Drama / Military
Writer: Merko Betz
Buyer: Centropolis Ent.
Logline: WW I drama about two opposing soldiers who form an unlikely bond.
Additional Information: Roland Emmerich will direct this movie based on a script that was written by a UCLA screenwriting student. It was optioned a while back by Emmerich's company out of its discretionary fund from Sony for low-six figures.
Genre: True Story
Writer: William Monahan
Buyer: Twentieth Century Fox
Purchase Price: Mid-six figures
Producer: Mark Gordon
Logline: Story of how U.S. soldier and diplomat William Eaton joined forces with an exiled king to overthrow the corrupt ruler of Tripoli in what is now Libya.
Additional Information: Producer Mark Gordon is Fox-based.
Writer: James V. Hart
Buyer: Britney Spears
Additional Information: To star Britney Spears. Screenwriter James V. Hart wrote "Bram Stoker's Dracula."
Genre: Action
Writer: Henry Pincus
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Producer: Andrew Lazar
Logline: Remake of the 1973 film which starred Pam Grier.
Additional Information: Henry Pincus is managed by Principato-Young. This is a possible studio franchise.
Genre: Romantic thriller
Writer: Henry Pincus
Buyer: Newmarket Capital
Producer: Vince Newman, Tucker Tooley
Logline: Love affair that begins after a man repeatedly and mysteriously crosses paths with high level female magazine editor.
Additional Information: Domenic Sena ("Gone In Sixty Seconds") will direct.
Genre: Drama / Romance
Writer: Steven Altier, Daniel Altier
Author: Gordon Korman
Buyer: Jane Startz Prods.
Producer: Jane Startz
Logline: Son of a crime family falls in love with the daughter of an FBI agent.
Additional Information: Jane Startz Prods. has a first-look deal with Miramax. Book agent Bill Brattan of Curtis Brown brokered the deal. No screenwriter is attached.
Comments: UPDATE: Daniel and Steve Altiere have been hired to adapt the novel to the screen. Project was originally set up on Oct 31, 2001.
Genre: Drama
Writer: Gillian Anderson
Author: Elizabeth Rosner
Buyer: Gillian Anderson
Logline: A reclusive young man lives in Berkeley with his sister and holocaust survivor dad. The son is brought out of his shell by a Latina housekeeper who has a lot in common with him. She was the only survivor in her Mexican town after it was obliterated and its inhabitants were all slaughtered. The young man's sister goes to Budapest to trace the family's roots and discovers a horrible secret about the time her dad was held in the concentration camp.
Additional Information: This will be Gillian Anderson's directing and screenwriting debut. She put up her own money to option the book which was published by Ballantine.
Genre: Comedy / Family
Writer: Todd Jones, Richey Jones
Buyer: Twentieth Century Fox Searchlight
Purchase Price: Seven-figures
Producer: Eric Rhone, Paul Hall, Cedric The Entertainer
Logline: Perils of parenthood will be examined as Cedric The Entertainer portrays a father of several children.
Additional Information: Purchase price includes producing and acting fees.
Genre: Drama
Writer: Brent Briscoe, Mark Fauser
Author: Bill Fitzhugh
Buyer: Shady Acres Universal
Producer: Tom Shadyac
Logline: A former advertising exec takes on the identity of his recently deceased brother who was a priest, in order to escape charges that the ad exec stole an idea from a co-worker. Transformed as a priest, brings new meaning to the man's life.
Additional Information: UPDATE: First set up on 10/19/2000. Bill Fitzhugh wrote the first draft of the screenplay followed by Gary Tieche and now by Briscoe and Fauser.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Colleen Ventimilia
Buyer: New Line
Producer: Jack Giarraputo, Adam Sandler
Logline: While he's drunk, a trailer park guy (Adam Sandler) sends away for a mail order bride and ends up meeting a musical prodigy. Together they change each other's lives.
Additional Information: Adam Sandler will star and produce through his Happy Madison Prods. Zhang Ziyi will also star.
Genre: Horror / Action
Writer: Brent Friedman, Steve DeJarnatt
Buyer: Dimension Films /Collision Entertainment
Producer: Scott Faye, Paul Rosenberg
Logline: Players of the game meet the "Spookhouse," a secret U.S. government group that is a shadow organization to the FBI. The group investigates supernatural cases in order to defend the U.S. against monsters and other evil entities.
Additional Information: Collision has a first-look deal with Dimension. Screenplay will be based on the 1999 PC video game which was put out by Terminal Reality. Abandon Ent. will co-finance the project.
Genre: Drama
Writer: Peter Wade
Producer: Sandy Weiser, Peter Wade
Logline: In 1982, Peter Wade was the first juvenile in New Jersey to be tried as an adult for causing a train to derail and killing the conductor. Wade served two years in prison before he went to work on Wall Street for the next ten years.
Additional Information: Not a spec sale but an announcement that production will begin in NY on Nov. 27th for this indie. Writer/Dir/Producer Peter Wade raised the production money from private investors. Ice T, Craig Wasson and Chris Gunn will star. Flick is budgeted at under $1 mil.
(Turnaround)
Genre: Action / Adventure
Author: Fran Striker, George Trendle
Buyer: Miramax
Purchase Price: $3 mil.
Logline: Britt Reid is a newspaper publisher by day and crime fighter by night. His duel identity is known only to his secretary and the city DA.
Additional Information: Miramax purchased the property for $3 mil. Universal sank close to 10 mil in it since 1992. Universal will retain the option to co-finance should the film get made. At one point, George Clooney was approached to play the Hornet and Jet Li was approached for the sidekick character of Kato. George Trendle, son of the co-creator of The Hornet will exec produce. The Hornet began as a radio program in 1936.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Darryl Quarles
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Producer: Paul Hall
Logline: Urban version of "10" that has an obsessed guy going through a series of mishaps in order to get the girl.
Additional Information: Martin Lawrence is negotiating to star for $20 mil. Project has been in development for some time at Warner Bros. Darryl Quarles, Adam Glass, Andrew Wasser and Salvatore Stabile have all worked on a draft of the script at one time or another. Quarles is expected to return for another rewrite.
Genre: Sci-fi / Thriller
Author: Stanislaw Lem
Buyer: Twentieth Century Fox
Logline: Story is about an astronaut who is sent to rescue scientists on a space station. He finds the commander dead and the two survivors driven mad by visions that soon appear to him as well.
Additional Information: George Clooney might star and Steven Soderbergh might direct this Lightstorm produced flick for Fox. It is based on a Russian novel which was first turned in a film in 1972 in Russia by director Andre Tarkovsky. No screenwriter is attached.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Jeff Schectman
Buyer: Filmstar Prods.
Producer: Mark Roberts
Logline: Four twentysomething friends decide that the only way to win over one's true love is to put them in extreme circumstances.
Additional Information: Lorena David ("Eastside") is attached to direct. Filmstar's Larry Crowder, John Powell and David Grey are executive producing.
Genre: True Story
Writer: Nathan Skulnick
Author: Tony Hawk, Sean Mortimer
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Producer: Andrew Gunn
Logline: Bio of pro skateboadrer Tony Hawk. In the 80's, he was ridiculed as a youngster for his small stature and his passion for a sport that was considered at the time to be "uncool." At the age of 14 he went on to become a pro skateboarder and stayed on top of the game until he retired at age 32.
Additional Information: Deal includes an option on the book as well as life-rights. Book was published by HarperCollins. Tony Hawk will exec produce through his 900 films.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Michael Cooney
Buyer: Columbia Pics.
Producer: Cathy Konrad
Logline: A violent storm strands ten people in a desert motel and one by one they are murdered.
Additional Information: James Mangold might direct. Project was initially set up at Sony's Screen Gems but is now at Columbia with a bigger budget.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Elizabeth Allen, Nick Pustay
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Buyer: Nickelodeon Paramount
Purchase Price: Low-six figures
Logline: Story is about an eccentric student who turns her high school on its head with her unconventional antics and selfless spirit and a boy who wants to fly under the radar among his
ultra conformist peers until she pulls him out of the crowd and into the spotlight.
Genre: Fantasy
Writer: Daniel Gerson, Robert Baird
Author: Jonathan Etra, Stephanie Spinner
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Producer: Jordan Kerner
Logline: 12 year old boy teams up with an alien to help save the world from an evil invader who turns out to be the most popular kid in the boy's class.
Additional Information: Sales also includes the rights to the two other books in the trilogy, "Aliens For Lunch" and "Aliens For Dinner." Monsters Inc. writers have been hired to adapt.
Genre: True Story
Author: Jerry Stanley
Buyer: Miramax
Producer: Jim Carrey, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher, Danny DeVito
Logline: Set in the Arvin Federal camp, the farm labor tent city seen in "The Grapes Of Wrath." Story will focus on Leo Hart, a caring high school
superintendent who built a schoolhouse for the previously unschooled children of the migrant workers.
Additional Information: Jim Carrey will star and produce. Rob Cohen, a former exec at Maury Povich's production company, MOPO, acquired the rights to the book from Povich, who'd previously optioned it. Cohen then got Jim Carrey's interest.
Genre: Teen comedy
Writer: Adam Epstein, Andrew Jacobson
Buyer: Twentieth Century Fox
Purchase Price: Low-six figures
Logline: "American Pie" set in Rome.
Additional Information: Writing team is responsible for "Not Another Teen Movie." They have also written for the MTV Movie awards.
Comments: Fish-out-of-water Pictures are very hot right now. Look at "Black Night" the new Martin Lawrence flick.
Genre: Drama
Writer: Jesse Peyronel
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Buyer: Bounder
Purchase Price: ? / six figures+
Logline: Story follows a disfigured fashion model and a pre-op transsexual on a road trip of revenge and recovery.
Additional Information: Author also wrote "Fight Club." The production company, Bounder is British-based and is owned by writer/director Jesse Peyronel.
Genre: Thriller
Writer: Tom Wheeler
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Purchase Price: Mid-six figures
Producer: Craig Perry, Warren Zide
Logline: In the vein of "Silence Of The Lambs: and "Seven."
Additional Information: Zide/Perry will produce for Disney. Story started out as a spec manuscript but screenwriter Wheeler decided to pitch it first as a movie. He will work concurrently on the screenplay and the book.
Genre: Fantasy
Writer: Eric Fogel
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Buyer: Columbia Pics.
Producer: Bill Teitler, Erica Huggins, Scott Kroopf
Logline: Story will be set within the confines of an intergalactic board game.
Additional Information: Columbia is hoping this book will be the basis for "Jumanji 2." It has spent millions of dollars, a number of years and more than six writers to try and come up with a sequel for "Jumanji." Ted Field from Radar Pics. will exec produce. The book will be published by Houghton-Mifflin in the fall.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Writer: Jefery Levy
Buyer: Twentieth Century Fox 2000 Ed
Logline: Set in the world of raves, story focuses on elite DJs who spin at raves.
Additional Information: Jefery Levy who gave the pitch and will write, might also direct.
Genre: Romantic thriller
Writer: Karen Lutz, Kirsten Smith
Author: Jane Heller
Buyer: Miramax
Producer: Jane Park, Karen Lutz, Kirsten Smith
Logline: Story is about two women who share the same name, Nancy Stern one a teacher, the other a glamorous celebrity journalist.
Additional Information: Jane Heller wrote the book which was published last year by St. Martin's Press. "Legally Blonde" screenwriters Karen Lutz and Kirsten Smith will adapt. They will receive seven-figures for their efforts.
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Nancy Pimental
Buyer: Sony
Purchase Price: $1.2 mil. / $1.7 mil.
Producer: Cathy Konrad
Logline: A traditional romantic comedy.
Additional Information: Pimental is a former "South Park" writer and the co-host on "Win Ben Stein's Money." She might also star.
Genre: Supernatural love story
Writer: Alex Smith, Andrew Smith
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Purchase Price: Low-six figures / mid-six
Logline: During the Civil War, a sharecropper assumes the identity of his boss, in order to take his place for him fighting in the war. In exchange, the sharecropper would get a plot of land. Against his wife's wishes he goes off to war and upon his return, he experiences strange things.
Additional Information: Similar in tone with "The Sixth Sense" and "The Others."
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Author: Amanda Brown
Buyer: Universal
Producer: Chad Lowe, Hilary Swank
Logline: Romance develops between a self-made young hotshot Jewish woman finance exec and a preppie slacker playboy after the two are given mutual guardianship of a high-energy four-year-old girl.
Additional Information: Novel is by Amanda Brown who wrote the novel "Legally Blonde." No screenwriter is attached.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Matt Healy
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Purchase Price: Mid-six figures
Producer: Craig Perry, Warren Zide
Logline: Guy who can't sell his house because of a white trash, lotto-winning neighbor, hires a criminal to "persuade" the guy to move.
Additional Information: This was a preemptive bid.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Tina Chism
Buyer: Twentieth Century Fox 2000
Producer: Wendy Finerman
Logline: Harlem street drummer joins a marching band at a Southern University on a scholarship.
Additional Information: Orlando Jones has just signed to play the musical director of the band. Movie will be based on an original script by first-timer Tina Chism. Charles Stone III will direct.
Genre: Thriller
Writer: Hans Bauer, Craig Mitchell
Buyer: Millenium Films /Cornice Entertainment
Producer: Mike Marcus, Brad Jenkel, Carroll Kemp
Logline: Chase film using muscle cars. Bad guy in a green Cadillac Eldorado likes to run over pedestrians. Good guy in a Plymouth Barracuda is after him.
Additional Information: Directing assignment for Robert Harmon. To begin production in April, 2002.
Genre: Black Comedy
Writer: Jesse Wigutow
Buyer: Furthur Films
Producer: Michael Douglas
Logline: Three generations of a dysfunctional family and their attempt to reconcile.
Additional Information: To star Michael Douglas along with his dad Kirk and his son, Cameron. Fred Schepisi is negotiating to direct.
Genre: Horror
Buyer: Seven Arts Pictures Kismet Classics
Logline: Story of a student who finds an old scroll, supposedly written by a witch that's guaranteed to wake Baron Kleist, or `Baron Blood' as he's known to the locals, and make him suffer the same tortures that he put his victims through. Through friends in Austria, the student hooks up with Eva Arnold, an architectural restoration expert, and together they skeptically try to see if the witch's incantation will really work.
Additional Information: Remake of the 1972 Mario Bava film "Baron Blood." No screenwriter is attached. Kismet recently acquired remake rights to the library of 13 fright films by the Italian director. No screenwriter is attached.
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Stephan Falick, Ben Zook
Buyer: Revolution Studios
Producer: Madelyn Sherak
Logline: Lonely woman falls in love on Valentine's Day and experiences all the elements of a relationship from chance meeting through divorce within the space of that single Feb. 14.
Additional Information: Script was based on an idea from Madelyn Sherak, who will also produce.
Genre: Action / Sci-fi
Writer: Mitchell, J. Barton
Buyer: Warner Bros. Material
Producer: Jorge Saralegui
Logline: Space/time continuum can become malevolent and turn into a natural disaster.
Genre: Horror
Writer: Clive Barker
Buyer: Universal
Purchase Price: Mid-six figures / $2 mil. +
Producer: Clive Barker, Todd MacFarlane
Additional Information: Based on Clive Barker's series of "Tortured Souls" live action figures. Each figure was sold with a chapter from a story
written by Barker. When combined, all the chapters make up a novella outlining the "Souls" origin.
Genre: True Story
Buyer: Barry Katz Prods., Ritz Wilson Prods.
Producer: Barry Katz, Brian Volk-Weiss
Logline: Lee Atwater served as the chief campaign advisor to Presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan. His abrasive way of getting things done gained much attention at the time. Many historians think he made everlasting changes to the American political system. He died of a brain tumor in 1991.
Additional Information: Based on the book by John Brady. Jay Mohr attached to topline as the former Republican national chairman. Marilyn Wilson, a former ABC executive and now an executive producer on "Politically Incorrect," and Jim Ritz originally optioned Brady's book last year. Barry Katz came aboard last week. Wilson and Ritz will executive produce.
Genre: Thriller
Buyer: Trillion Ent.
Producer: Christina Zilber, Laurent Zilber, Kathryn Tyrus-Adair, Scott Duncan
Logline: Mysterious ad brings together a group of young geniuses who soon find themselves abandoned on an island where they have to fend for themselves.
Additional Information: Written by British author Scarlett Thomas. No screenwriter is attached.
Genre: Family
Writer: Oliver Butcher, Eric Freiser
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Manager: Linne Radmin, Robyn Meisinger
Logline: The story centers on a group of teens who for punishment of their bad behavior turn old.
Additional Information: Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul have been hired to do a rewrite on the script by Butcher and Freiser.
Comments: UPDATE: "Max Keeble's Big Move" writers Jonathan Bernstein, Mark Blackwell and Jim Grier have just been hired to rewrite. Project was set up as a pitch in Aug of 1999. Daniel Chuba will now produce through Hammerhead Prods.
Genre: Sci-fi / Action
Writer: R. Ellis Frazier, Geoffrey Ross
Buyer: Ron Shusett Prods.
Purchase Price: Low-six figures
Producer: Anthony Riddio
Logline: Set in 2091, the surviving society of a catastrophic plague rebuilds a post-apocalyptic paradise by manufacturing an underground society of cloned humans to serve as a quasi-slave labor force. This story is about the life of one particular clone laborer among the millions who while searching for meaning and illegal love, becomes the unwitting hero of an underground clone rebellion.
Additional Information: This is a novella written by first-timers R. Ellis Frazier and Geoffrey Ross. Screenplay will be written by Ron
Shusett. This is part one of the cloning trilogy. Shusett cowrote "Alien" "Total Recall" and the upcoming Spielberg flick "Minority Report." He will serve as exec producer on this project.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Sheck Bugge
Buyer: New Line/ Davis Ent.
Producer: John Davis
Logline: Three best friends decide to form a rap label as their ticket out of the 'hood.
(Turnaround)
Genre: Romantic drama
Writer: Christina Walsh
Buyer: Outlaw Prods.
Purchase Price: Mid-six figures
Producer: Jennifer Love Hewitt
Logline: The story centers on a young couple who gets a chance to relive the events of the day when one of them dies.
Additional Information: UPDATE: Outlaw Prods. has picked this up in bankruptcy court for $125k since Destination Films went into bankruptcy eight months ago. The other bidder on this project was Maverick Films. Project was originally set up on 04/01/99. It will now star Jennifer Love Hewitt who will produce
through her Love Spell Entertainment.
Genre: Psychological thriller
Writer: Brian Carr
Buyer: Hyde Park Ent.
Producer: John Herzfeld, Scott Steindorff, Eric Handler
Logline: Story is about a Jake, a guy who explores the pleasures and limits of sex with many different women. When he meets Mimi, Jake decides to cut down on all his sexual partners but things go awry when when the women he has slept with begin to be murdered, and all evidence points to him.
Additional Information: Book was written by Frank Baldwin. John Herzfeld ("15 Minutes") is attached to direct and produce through his New Redemption Pictures.
Comments: UPDATE: Screenwriter Brian Carr has been tapped to adapt the soon-to-be published novel. This project was originally set up on 09/25/2001.
Genre: Musical / Romance
Writer: Quinton Peeples
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Purchase Price: Low-six figures / mid-six
Producer: Andrew Gunn
Logline: Set in New Orleans, story is a modern-day telling of "The Nutcracker," with jazz, hip-hop and R&B music as the backdrop. There are also magical elements involved.
Additional Information: Pitch was made to producer Andrew Gunn who then took it to Disney where he has a first-look deal.
Genre: Sci-fi
Writer: Terry Hayes
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Purchase Price: $1 mil.
Producer: Don Murphy
Logline: After the apocalypse, a young boy resists aliens' attempts to brainwash him.
Additional Information: Story is based on a series of young adult books by John Christopher which cater to boys. Don Murphy is producing through his Sony-based Angry Films.
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Tim Dowling
Buyer: Senator Ent. Propaganda
Producer: Rick Hess
Logline: A woman who is obsessed with a has been movie star suddenly finds herself in a relationship with the star.
Additional Information: Joe Nussbaum will direct. Nussbaum and Dowling are the team that gave us the short film "George Lucas In Love" which they made at USC.
Bender Spink and Joe Levy are executive producing.
Genre: Action
Buyer: Catch 23 Ent.
Logline: A deeply religious former Green Beret who quotes Scripture while dispensing the Lord's judgment on the unrepentant as he leads a group of refugees to safety.
Additional Information: Black Bull Ent. publishes "Just A Pilgrim." The comic book was created by Garth Ennis. No screenwriter is attached.
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Karen Lutz, Kirsten Smith
Buyer: MGM
Producer: Marc Platt, Reese Witherspoon
Logline: Not yet available.
Additional Information: Negotiations are taking place for the two writers of "Legally Blonde" to write the sequel. Reese Witherspoon might reprise her role;
negotiations are taking place. "Legally Blonde" is a major hit for the studio, pulling in over $70 million thus far. Seth Jaret of Jaret Ent. manages writing team.
Comments: UPDATE: TV writers Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake have been hired to write the screenplay. The writers of the first "Legally Blonde" were hired in August of 2001.
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Dennis Drake, Eve Ahlert
Buyer: Jersey Films Universal
Logline: A young girl travels to London to follow what she thinks is her destiny as a princess.
Additional Information: This script has been development at Jersey for a number of months.
Genre: Thriller
Buyer: Miramax Warner Bros.
Producer: Gwyneth Paltrow
Logline: A group of classics students at a Vermont college murder a classmate in a Dionysian ritual.
Additional Information: Written by Donna Tartt. Gwyneth Paltrow will star and her brother Jake will direct. This was in development for many years at Warner Bros. before Miramax came along to co-develop the project. The book was originally optioned by producer Alan
Pakula. No screenwriter is attached.
Genre: Action / Sci-fi
Writer: Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz
Buyer: Twentieth Century Fox
Producer: Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz
Logline: Sequel to the first X-Files feature.
Additional Information: Fox is negotiating with Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz to develop the next X-Files feature. They will begin writing the screenplay within the next few months.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Alan Berger, Kathy Gori
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Purchase Price: Low-six figures / mid-six
Producer: Andrew Gunn
Logline: Rich guy loses all and becomes the manservant to a rich rapper who buys his house in the Hamptons under a bankruptcy deal.
Additional Information: Gunn Films will produce for Disney. Screenwriters are a husband and wife team and have their own production company in Culver City, CA called Valley of the Moon Prods.
Genre: True Story
Writer: Caroline Thompson
Buyer: Twentieth Century Fox Searchlight
Producer: Mark Gordon, Joe Fries
Logline: True story of Robert and Johnny Eckhardt, who were identical twins except that Johnny was born without the lower half of his body and learned to walk on his hands. Johnny went on to become a world famous sideshow performer called "the half-boy," and Robert became his manager.
Additional Information: Fox searchlight has come aboard to finance and distribute this, Leonardo Di Caprio staring. Pelagius Entertainment's Joe Fries and Mark Gordon will produce. Gordon has a first-look deal with Fox.
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Mark Hatmaker
Buyer: A Happy Place
Producer: Richard Hull, Wendy Thorlakson
Logline: Misadventures of a 20 something business exec who still lives with mom. Things get interesting when she tries to find him a wife.
Additional Information: A Happy Place is an 11-month-old production company founded by 'N Sync's Lance Bass, producers Rich Hull and Wendy Thorlakson, music manager Johnny Wright and attorney Joe Anderson. Lance Bass will star.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Alan Trezza
Buyer: Miramax
Producer: Peter Abrams, Robert Levy, Andrew Panay
Logline: Up and coming tennis pro on the junior women's circuit joins forces with an ex-coach to beat her rival and earn a wild card slot in the U.S. Open.
Additional Information: Screenwriter is an assistant to Miramax senior VP production Robbie Brenner. Tapestry Films will produce for Miramax. This spec deal is still being worked out.
Genre: Black Comedy
Writer: Robert Benton
Buyer: Stone Village Prods.
Purchase Price: High-six figures
Producer: Scott Steindorff
Logline: Blue collar life in a small town known as Empire Falls. It centers on the owner of a greasy spoon, his alcoholic dad and ex-wife.
Additional Information: Written by Richard Russo. Robert Benton will adapt and direct. Joel Gotler at Artists Management Group/Renaissance.
Genre: Biography
Buyer: HBO Playtone
Purchase Price: ? / seven-figures
Producer: Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
Logline: Biography of our second President. The book claims that Adams was an unsung hero in the birth of our country. He played a major role in the battle for freedom from the British, was a major catalyst behind Jefferson's authorship of the Declaration of
Independence and guiding hand in the formation of a democratic government once the war was won.
Additional Information: Written by Pulitzer Prize winning author David McCullough. Read "The Great Bridge" also written by him. Wonderful. Optioned by Playtone (owned by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman) out of its discretionary fund from HBO. This will be mini series for the cable network. No screenwriter is attached.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Buyer: Stone Village Prods.
Purchase Price: High-six figures
Producer: Scott Steindorff
Logline: One week in the life of a 50 year old English department chairman at a PA University comically and tragically told.
Additional Information: Written by Richard Russo.
Genre: Sci-fi / Thriller
Writer: Sam Egan
Buyer: New Line
Producer: Nicolas Cage, Norm Golightly, Richard B. Lewis
Logline: Iowa state trooper seeks to gain retribution for the death of his daughter and instead unwittingly becomes a pawn between two alien races: one bent on survival and the other on destruction.
Additional Information: Saturn Films and South Paw Media Films will will produce for New Line. Cage will star and also produce.
Genre: True Story
Buyer: Tiara-Blu Prods.
Producer: Ray Liotta, Michelle Grace, Diane Nabatoff
Logline: Pierre Dulane, an internationally known ballroom dancer joins the New York public school system to teach ballroom dancing to inner-city children.
Additional Information: Tiara-Blu is a one year old company owned by actor Ray Liotta along with Diane Nabatoff and Michelle Grace. They have offices in L.A. and New York and hope to set up "Dancing Classrooms" at MGM. No screenwriter is attached.
Genre: Mystery
Buyer: Warner Bros. Cheyenne Ent.
Producer: Arnold Rifkin, Bruce Willis, Scott Goldman
Logline: Dedicated game warden in Wyoming comes across the body of a poacher in his own backyard which leads him to discover more bodies, putting his life and career in danger.
Additional Information: Book was written by C.J. Box. Producer Scott Goldman brought the book to Cheyenne. No screenwriter is attached.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Nicolas Falacci, Cheryl Heuton
Buyer: New Line
Logline: TV talk show host is fired and is reassigned to hosting an extreme animal show for kids.
Additional Information: New Line production VP Christopher Godsick developed the idea with the writers.
Genre: Children
Buyer: Vanguard Films
Producer: John Williams
Logline: During Christmas Eve, two children disappear from their uncle's attic and are taken away by Charlie Chaplin to various movie sets of classic films.
Additional Information: This is a children's picture book written by Bjorn Sortland and illustrated by Lars Elling. The book was optioned from Adam Lerner, head of the Minnesota-based Lerner Publishing Group. Producer John Williams also produced "Shrek." No screenwriter is attached.
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Gary Ross
Buyer: Universal / Jersey Films
Logline: Set in New York, Jim Carrey will play a widower whose wife returns from the dead to confront him after he falls for a much younger woman.
Additional Information: Jim Carrey will star in this Gary Ross penned screenplay which Gary Ross will direct. Production will begin March, 2002 for a Christmas 2002 release. Jersey Films and Gary Ross' Larger Than Life Prods. will produce for Universal.
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