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February 2003 Script Sales
Fatal Frame
Genre: Horror
Writer: Robert Fyvolent, Mark R. Brinker
Buyer: DreamWorks
Producer: John Rogers
Logline: A woman's search for her mysteriously missing brother leads her to a haunted mansion, armed only with an antique camera that lets her see ghosts.
Side Note: To adapted from the best-selling Tecmo videogame. John Rogers will produce. Originally set up in May 2002.
Meridian
Genre: Sci-fi/Adventure
Writer: Bob Gale
Author: Barbara Kesel
Buyer: CrossGeneration Comics
Logline: Story is about a teenage princess named Sephie who must battle evil plots against the throne after her father is killed.
Side Note: To be adapted from the comic book series and graphic novel by Barbara Kesel. Originally set up in August 2002.
Untitled Black-Ferrell Pitch
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Judd Apatow
Buyer: New Line
Producer: Jimmy Miller
Logline: Centers pair of Los Angeles motorcycle cops, one who moved to the L.A. area due to the lack of crime in Irvine.
Side Note: Based on a pitch from Jack Black and Will Ferrell. Apatow will also make his directorial debut. Mosaic Media Group's Jimmy Miller will produce. Black and Ferrell will also star in.
The Wind In The Willows
Genre: Fantasy
Writer: Guillermo del Toro
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Purchase Price: Mid-six figures
Producer: Neal Moritz
Logline: Set in the English countryside, a few curious animals including Ratty, Mole, Toad, and Badger go on wonderful adventures.
Side Note: Live-action/CGI. Based on Kenneth Grahame's novel. del Toro will also direct. Neal Moritz will produce. This was set up as a treatment by Corey May, Michael Wendschuh and Baruch Inbar. Originally set up in February 2002.
Delivering Gen
Genre: Drama
Writer: Kurt Sutter
Buyer: Brian Oliver, Dylan Sellers
Producer: Brian Oliver, Dylan Sellers
Logline: A muscle man for a sinister company tries to quit his job and strike up an affair with an old flame, but his company won't let him go.
Side Note: Brian Oliver and Dylan Sellers will produce it as an indie project. U/K. video director Mike Lipscombe to direct.
Guys and Dolls
Genre: Musical
Buyer: Miramax
Producer: Craig Zadan, Neil Meron
Logline: Nathan Detroit, the organizer of the oldest established floating crap game in New York, challenges fellow gambler Sky Masterson to a bet that he can't make the next girl he sees fall in love with him.
Side Note: Film version of the Broadway musical. Miramax also optioned the original short story on which the musical was based, "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown," from newspaperman Damon Runyon's estate. Storyline Entertainment's Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to produce.
Lionboy
Genre: Children
Author: Louisa Young, Isabelle Young
Buyer: DreamWorks
Producer: Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd
Logline: Set in London in the near future, a young boy, who was scratched by a leopard as a baby and can communicate with cats, uses these skills and teams up with circus lions to track down his kidnapped parents.
Side Note: Lionboy is the first of a trilogy of books that DreamWorks optioned. The books were written by a single mother and her 10-year-old
daughter in the U.K.
Mech Warrior
Genre: Sci-fi/Action
Buyer: Paramount
Producer: Dean Devlin
Logline: Set 40 years after the Mech Wars have ended, centers on a group of young heroes in their late teens and early 20s that have grown up in peaceful and prosperous times.
Side Note: Paramount is negotiating with Wiz Kids, a Seattle-based video game company. Dean Devlin and his Electric Ent. will produce and Devlin might co-write and direct.
SIS
Genre: Drama
Writer: Kurt Sutter
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Producer: Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Logline: Centers on the Special Investigations Section, an undercover crime unit of the LAPD.
Side Note: Part of a two-pic blind script deal for Sutter. Lorenzo di Bonaventura will produce. Antoine Fuqua is attached to direct.
Women's Maintenance Club
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Kate Lainer
Buyer: New Line
Producer: John Hart, Jeff Sharp, Robert Kessel
Logline: Group of women who form a "Women's Maintenance Club" to fix each other's broken down houses, learn they are capable of not only repairing broken doors and sinks but also that they had the power to mend their damaged lives.
Side Note: Hart Sharp Entertainment's John Hart, Jeff Sharp and Robert Kessel will produce.
Mr and Mrs. Smith
Genre: Action/Adventure
Writer: Simon Kinberg
Buyer: Regency Ent.
Producer: Akiva Goldsman
Logline: Bored married couple discover they are enemy assassins hired to kill each other.
Side Note: Brad Pitt and Nicole Kidman are negotiating to star. Doug Liman will direct. Weed Road Pics. is producing for Regency.
Bewitched
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Nora Ephron
Buyer: Columbia Pics.
Producer: Doug Wick, Lucy Fisher
Logline: Feature version of the 64-72 TV series about a witch married to a mortal and her desire to keep her powers in check for the sake of her marriage.
Side Note: Adaptation of the 1960's sitcom. Penny Marshall had been developing this project and will serve in some type of producing capacity. Nicole Kidman is attached to star in. Nora Ephron may also direct. Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher's Red Wagon Productions will produce. Originally set up in September 2002.
Closer
Genre: Drama
Writer: Patrick Marber
Buyer: Columbia Pics.
Logline: When the guy from one couple hooks up with the girl from another other couple, the two couple's dynamic turns quite sour.
Side Note: Adaptation of Marber's acclaimed play, in which the playwright adapted for the screen. Mike Nichols is set to direct. Scott Rudin and Robert Fox will produce. Jude Law and Natalie Portman will star.
Guida
Genre: Comedy/Action
Writer: Gregg Rossen, Brian Sawyer
Buyer: Revolution Studios
Producer: Larry Brezner, Walter Hamada
Logline: A street-wise Brooklyn woman witnesses a mob murder. In order to protect her, the FBI sends her to the last place the mob would think to look and, unfortunately, the last place she fits in: a wealthy town in Newport, R.I.
Side Note: MBST literary manager Walter Hung, who came up with the idea will exec produce.
I Married A Witch
Genre: Comedy/Fantasy
Writer: Michael Leeson
Buyer: Columbia Pics.
Producer: Paula Wagner, Tom Cruise
Logline: A witch burned at the stake in the 1600s and puts a curse on her tormentor's family to make sure that his male descendants always marry the wrong woman. In present day, the witch returns on the eve of the current son's wedding, mistakenly drinks the love potion that was for him, and she falls in love with him instead.
Side Note: Danny DeVito has come aboard to direct this remake of a 1942 film which starred Veronica Lake and Frederic March. Tom Cruise might star in the new version. He set this project up five years ago at Columbia.
Laws Of Attraction
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Robert Harling, Aline Brosh McKenna
Buyer: Intermedia
Producer: David Friendly, Marc Turtletaub, Pierce Brosnan, Beau St. Clair
Logline: Two divorce lawyers marry only to discover that they are not immune to the same marital difficulties that bring them to court.
Side Note: Pierce Brosnan's production company, Irish Dreamtime will produce along with Deep River and Intermedia. Brosnan will star. Julianne Moore will costar opposite Pierce Brosnan.
Liberty
Genre: Action
Writer: Sean Bailey
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Producer: Baiey, Sean Moore, Chris
Logline: An attack on the U.S. with an electromagnetic pulse that makes computer chips inoperable, completely disrupting modern society. As a result, the U.S. is forced to defend itself against a digital-age threat by resorting to old-fashioned combat methods.
Side Note: LivePlanet's Sean Bailey and Chris Moore will produce. Ted Griffin will Executive Produce.
Rose and the Snake
Genre: Drama
Writer: Rebecca Miller
Buyer: IFC Prods.
Logline: Father lives with his 16 year-old daugter on an island off of Canada in order to shield her from the modern world. When he brings a lover and her two sons home to live with them, the daughter undergoes a sexual awakening with liberating and devastating consequences.
Side Note: Daniel Day-Lewis will star. His wife, Rebecca Miller who wrote the screenplay based on a story she wrote with Michael Rohatyn, will direct. Jonathan Sehring and Caroline Kaplan of IFC Films will exec produce with Initial Entertainment Group principal Graham King.
Seeing Other People
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Wallace Wolodarsky, Maya Forbes
Buyer: Pariah Prods.
Producer: Gavin Polone
Logline: Two months before their wedding, a couple decides they should see other people right up until the wedding date and get all of that out of their systems.
Side Note: Wallace Wolodarsky ("Sorority Boys") will direct this indie feature. $500k budget. Shooting begins in L.A. this April.
Untitled Waugh-Mendillo Pic
Genre: Action/Drama
Writer: Tag Mendillo, Ric Waugh
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Producer: Mark Ciardi, Gordon Gray
Logline: Set against the world of competitive supercross racing.
Side Note: Mayhem Pictures' Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray to produce.
Werewolf By Night
Genre: Horror
Writer: Robert Nelson Jacobs
Buyer: Dimension Films
Producer: Steven Paul, Avi Arad
Logline: A guy tries to accept and live with the curse that transforms him into a wolflike beast during a full moon.
Side Note: Based on the Marvel Comics series. Marvel Studios' Avi Arad and Crystal Sky's Steven Paul will produce. Originally setup in June 2002.
Win A Date With Tad Hamilton
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Vic Levin
Buyer: DreamWorks
Purchase Price: $800k/$1.2 mil
Producer: Lucy Fisher, Doug Wick, David Fanning
Logline: A small-town grocery store clerk wins a contest that gets her out of West Virginia to Hollywood for a date with the hottest, most eligible movie star. Once in town, she finds herself in the middle of a love triangle with the movie hunk and her longtime best friend, Pete, a fellow clerk who has been in love with her since the sixth grade.
Side Note: Robert Luketic will direct. Red Wagon Entertainment's Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher will produce. Topher Grace and Kate Bosworth will star. Originally set up in March 2002.
The Chosen One
Genre: Adventure
Writer: Chris Lackey
Buyer: Visionbox Pictures/X-42 Productions
Producer: John Manulis, Andreas Olavarria
Log Line: An "average Joe" from Iowa is named the Messiah by the leader of an oddball cult and must travel to Kansas to receive a message from God that will save a rapidly disintegrating civilization.
Side Note: 3-D computer-generated animation. Visionbox's Chris Miller and Lulu Zezza will executive produce. Visionbox's Diana Tauder will be associate producer. Elliot Lorman will be the director of animation. Tim Curry, Traci Elizabeth Lords, Lance Henriksen, Chris Sarandon, Laura Prepon, Debra Wilson and Danielle Fishel will provide the voices of the characters.
Trap for Cinderella
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Writer: Sebastian Japrisot (author)
Buyer: Odd Lot Entertainment
Producer: Iain Softley, Dixie Linder
Log Line: Two female friends, one rich and one poor, share a beach house at a French resort. When the house is destroyed by a suspicious fire, only one of the women survives, but she is burned beyond recognition and suffers from amnesia.
Side Note: Based on a 1964 French novel penned by Jean-Baptiste Rossi under the pseudonym Sebastian Japrisot. Picked up from turnaround from FilmFour in January 2003. Script is out to writers.
The Elric Saga
Genre: Fantasy
Author: Michael Moorcock
Buyer: Universal
Producer: Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz, Andrew Miano
Logline: An albino warrior, who controls an unruly island nation, goes on a series of adventures, after he is betrayed by his cousin, sent into exile and attempts to come to terms with his own humanity.
Side Note: Multi-part series of 11 books. First book was "Elric of Melnibone" published in 1972. The story for the film will be culled from the first six books.
The King
Genre: Drama
Writer: Milo Addica, James Marsh
Buyer: ContentFilm
Producer: Ed Pressman
Logline: A 21-year-old just out of the Navy seeks out the father he never knew.
Side Note: Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal is in advanced talks to star. Project was originally developed at FilmFour. James Marsh will make his feature directing debut. John Schmidt, Sofia Sondervan, James Wilson will exec produce.
Untitled Wigutow Project
Genre: Thriller
Writer: Jesse Wigutow
Buyer: Universal
Producer: Brian Grazer
Logline: A drug company discovers a cure for cancer but seeks to suppress it when it proves not to be profitable.
Side Note: Treatment was written by Howard Blum. Jesse Wigutow will write the screenplay. Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer will produce.
Delmore Can't Dance
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Anne Meredith
Buyer: Paramount
Producer: Scott Rudin
Logline: A nondescript, scrappy bumbling man thinks the world revolves around him. He drinks, he gets in fights, and he lands in jail. After getting out, he beginnings seeing a girl for recreational sex. He discovers she is living with another woman and is gay. The man freaks out as his world crumbles around him, but ultimately he becomes enlightened by it all.
Side Note: Assignment for Robert Benton. Spec script was purchased by producer Scott Rudin last year.
DinoCroc
Genre: Thriller
Writer: Francis Dole
Buyer: Concorde - New Horizons
Producer: Damian Akavi
Logline: A town is terrorized by a large and fierce crocodile after the beast is resurrected from the age of the dinosaurs.
Side Note: Based on an idea by Roger Corman. Corman will produce. Damian Akavi will direct. Costas Mandylor, Bruce Weitz and Charles Napier will star in.
The Grudge
Genre: Horror
Writer: Takashi Shimizu
Buyer: Ghost House Pictures
Producer: Taka Ichise, Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert
Logline: A murderous supernatural curse is born out of a grudge held by someone who dies angry. The curse passes like a virus to its victims.
Side Note: Remake of the Japanese film. Takashi Shimizu who wrote and directed the original will direct the remake. Vertigo Entertainment's Roy Lee and Doug Davison, who brought the project to Ghost House, will exec produce.
Overcommitted
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Scott Fifer
Buyer: New Line
Producer: Neal Moritz, Mark Williams, Michael Pierce
Logline: A marriage-phobic man backs out of a long-term relationship and finds himself landing in alternate realities, married to different women.
Side Note: Neal Moritz, Mark Williams, Tonia Landau and Michael Pierce will produce.
Schneider's 2nd Stage
Genre: Psychological thriller
Writer: Phil Stoole
Buyer: Random Harvest
Logline: An perfect community torn apart by the disappearance of a young girl.
Side Note: Based on the 16-minute short starring Kenneth Branagh, in which he may reprise his role. Phil Stoole will make his directorial debut.
Sleeping With Schubert
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Author: Bonnie Marson
Buyer: Paramount
Purchase Price: Mid-six figures
Producer: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Richard Pine
Logline: A young NY attorney suddenly becomes able to play the piano brilliantly and believes she's inhabited by the spirit of famed Austrian composer Franz Schubert.
Side Note: Adaptation of Marson's novel. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Richard Pine will produce. Novel will be published by Random House in March 2004. Originally set up at Warner Brothers in December 2002.
10 Again
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Blake Edwards
Buyer: MDP Worldwide
Logline: A man falls for a "perfect" looking woman, who is on her honeymoon, and when she repays him for a favor he begins to rethink his approach to life.
Side Note: Remake of the 1979 movie "10" which starred Dudley Moore and Bo Derek. Shooting will begin in August in the U.K. and a tropical location. Blake Edwards who directed the original will return to write and direct.
All My Life For Sale
Genre: Drama
Writer: John Freyer
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Producer: David Heyman
Logline: Man sells his possessions to people on Ebay then tracks down the buyers to visit them.
Side Note: Adaptation of Freyer's book. David Heyman will produce.
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Genre: Drama
Writer: Mary McCuckian
Buyer: Davis Films
Producer: Samuel Hadida, Denise O'Dell
Logline: Set against the background of an Inquisition trial in 1740s Peru, the story focuses on the lives of five people who plunged to their deaths when the San Luis Rey bridge collapsed. It also explores the lives of people who knew them.
Side Note: Adaptation of Thornton Wilder's 1927 Pulitzer prize winning novel. Mary McCuckian will also direct. Davis Films' Samuel Hadida, and Kanzaman & McGuckian's Denis O'Dell will produce at Pembridge Pictures. Robert DeNiro, Kathy Bates, Gabriel Byrne, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham, Geraldine Chaplin, Pilar Lopez, and Michael Polish to star in.
The Clubhouse Detectives
Genre: Family
Buyer: Promark Ent.
Producer: Jon Kramer
Logline: Follows the "Clubhouse" detectives gang as they get into further off-the-wall adventures.
Side Note: Three more installments of this franchise will be produced.
Dial A Ghost
Genre: Children
Writer: Iona Brindle
Author: Eva Ibbotson
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Producer: David Heyman
Logline: A boy discovers that his boring dad is really part of a secret organization that is designed to keep a balance between ghosts and humans.
Side Note: Adaptation of Eva Ibbotson novel. David Heyman will produce.
Doctor Lopez
Genre: Drama
Writer: Sherry Mills
Author: Elliot Baker
Buyer: PowerHouse Ent.
Producer: Andrew Stevens
Logline: An exiled Portuguese Jew is appointed to serve as the personal physician to Queen Elizabeth I and finds himself at the center of a royal power struggle.
Side Note: First project for Andrew Steven's new company PowerHouse Entertainment. It will produce with Santa Barbara Filmed Ent. Michael Radford is negotiating to direct. It is based on the novel and screen story by Elliot Baker.
Untitled McCullers Project
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Michael McCullers
Buyer: Universal
Purchase Price: $2 mil.
Producer: Brian Grazer
Logline: Plot being kept under wraps. Described as a vehicle for two male stars.
Side Note: Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment will produce.
Backwater
Genre: Horror
Buyer: Dimension Films
Purchase Price: Low-six figures/mid-six
Producer: Flint Dille, John Zuur Platten
Logline: Video game player is a would-be victim on the run from a killer by the name of Mr. Jangle, who lives in a swamp.
Side Note: To be adapted from the the videogame created by Flint Dille and John Zuur Platten of Bureau of Film and Games. Dille and Platten will produce.
Forever Man
Genre: Action/Adventure
Writer: Luke McMullin
Buyer: Idiom Films
Purchase Price: Low six figures
Producer: Stan Lee, Quay Hays
Logline: Centers on superheros in a different type of situation.
Side Note: Based on an idea by Stan Lee. POW! Films' Stan Lee and Idiom's Quay Hays will produce. POW!'s Gill Champion will Executive Produce. McMullin is also in development on an untitled action pitch with Sony-based Original Films & Energy.
Untitled Belateche Project
Genre: Thriller
Writer: Irving Belateche
Buyer: Pariah Prods.
Logline: Set in the modern day Middle East and the U.S., a biblical archaeologist makes a life-changing discovery.
Side Note: Pitch. Pariah's Vivian Cannon to Executive Produce.
The Alchemist
Genre: Drama
Writer: Lawrence Fishburne
Author: Paulo Coehlo
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Producer: Lawrence Fishburne
Logline: Journey of self-discovery undertaken by a traveler who ventures beyond his borders in Spain during the Inquisition, trying to understand man's purpose on the planet.
Side Note: Lawrence Fishburne will write, star, produce and direct this adaptation based on Paulo Coehlo's novel.
Undertow
Genre: Drama
Writer: Joe Conway, David Gordon Green
Buyer: ContentFilm
Producer: Lisa Muskat, Ed Pressman, Terrence Malick
Logline: Set in a small Southern town, a father's family is torn apart by the unexpected visit of his brother, which makes the father's two sons run away from home.
Side Note: David Gordon Green will direct Dermot Mulroney, Josh Lucas and Jamie Bell. ContentFilm's John Schmidt and Alessandro Camon will exec produce. Shooting is set to start in April in and around Savannah, Ga.
We Are Family
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Sara Endsley
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Purchase Price: Low-six figures/mid-six
Logline: A young woman who's the black sheep of her family, kidnaps a guy in order to attend her family's Thanksgiving dinner with a perfect date.
Side Note: This was a preemptive purchase. Storyline Entertainment to produce.
Boogeyman
Genre: Horror
Writer: Eric Kripke, Juliet Snowden, Stiles White
Buyer: Ghost House Pictures
Producer: Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert
Logline: A young man traumatized by the memories of terrible events he experienced in his childhood bedroom must return home years later to face his fears.
Side Note: Mehdi Norowzian will direct this feature for Senator International's new genre division Ghost House Pictures. Shooting begins in May in New Zealand. Steve Hein and Gary Bryman are executive producing.
The Booty Nomad
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Writer: Scott Mebus
Author: Scott Mebus
Buyer: Miramax
Logline: A twenty-something NY TV producer throws himself into the dating pool to recover from a painful breakup.
Side Note: Mebus will adapt from his own novel.
Risk Addiction
Genre: Thriller
Writer: Henry Bean, Leora Barish
Buyer: MGM/Lakeshore Ent.
Logline: A male psychiatrist develops a romance with a beautiful murder suspect he's been asked by police to analyze.
Side Note: Lakeshore has joined MGM in producing an financing this flick. Project was originally titled "Basic Instinct 2," which fell apart after Sharon Stone and the producers got into a lawsuit. The script was so good that MGM, which owned it, decided to produce it but not as a sequel to "Basic Instinct." Script is out to directors.
San Quentin Giants
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Writer: Paul Cuschieri
Buyer: Columbia Pics.
Producer: John Baldecchi, Jason Hoffs
Logline: Teams play semi pro baseball at a maximum security
prison.
Side Note: Inspired by the real-life tradition. John Baldecchi and Jason Hoffs to produce.
Society Cab
Genre: Drama
Writer: David Mills
Buyer: Universal
Producer: Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
Logline: A newspaper reporter becomes a cabbie to write a feature story for the Miami Herald about a 50-year-old black-owned, black-run taxi company that provides "the only means of safe transportation" in the more dangerous parts of Miami-Dade County. The cabbies drive in the unsafe area, minding residents' children and even policing it themselves, knowing the cops will show up long after they do.
Side Note: Based on original script by David Mills. Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone Productions will produce. Tim Story to direct.
True Believers
Genre: Thriller
Writer: Doug Richardson
Buyer: MGM
Producer: Arnold Rifkin, Bruce Willis
Logline: The paths of a senator with White House aspirations, a woman who wants to have a child, and a death row inmate who thinks he is a messiah, who must carry on his bloodline, all intersect.
Side Note: Remake of Japanese film. Japanese director Hideo Nakata will make his English-language feature debut with this remake of his own film. Originally adapted from a novel by Richardson. Cheyenne Enterprises' Arnold Rifkin will produce.
Originally set up in May 2001.
The Interman
Genre: Sci-fi/Action
Author: Jeff Parker
Buyer: Paramount
Purchase Price: Mid-six figures
Producer: Gale Anne Hurd, Jeff Davidson
Logline: The lone creation of a cold war experiment finds that he is able to rewrite his DNA and adapt quickly to his surroundings. On the run from NATO assassins who want to erase all evidence of his existence, the Interman then discovers there might be others out there like him.
Side Note: Rights to graphic novel by illustrator-turned-author Jeff Parker. Valhalla Motion Pictures to produce. Valhalla's Jeff Davidson & Gale Anne Hurd and Illuminati Entertainment's Ford Lytle Gilmore will co-produce.
Iron Man
Genre: Action/Sci-fi
Writer: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar
Buyer: New Line
Producer: Don Murphy, Ari Arad
Logline: Howard Hughes-like billionaire who makes his money selling weaponry, suffers from a weak heart and builds a super pacemaker to stay alive. The pacemaker is integrated into a high-tech battle suit of armor, creating the world's ultimate crime fighting weapon. The billionaire's identity remains a mystery behind the armor.
Side Note: Comic was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963 and it is still published today. Avi Arad's Marvel Studios and Don Murphy's Angry Films will produce.
Mostly Martha
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Terri Minsky
Buyer: Castle Rock
Producer: Sergio Aguero
Logline: A top-notch female chef is a whiz in the kitchen but a mess elsewhere. Her life is turned upside-down when her sister is killed and she must take care of her orphaned niece. Romance blossoms when she hires a charming male chef.
Side Note: Remake rights to the German film. The original was written and directed by Sandra Nettelbeck. Sergio Aguero will produce. Susan Cartsonis will executive produce. Lawrence Kasdan will direct.
The Old Man and the Gun
Genre: Drama/Action
Author: David Grann
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Producer: Wolfgang Peterson, Diana Rathbun
Logline: Story of Forrest Tucker, a Clyde Barrow-like figure whose arrest after a high-speed car chase at the age of 78 ended a six-decade long career of robbing banks and escaping from prison. He was once part of a crew of robbers in Texas and Oklahoma that was called the Over-the-Hill Gang by local newspapers.
Side Note: To be based on a "New Yorker" article by David Grann that appeared on January 27th. Radiant Productions Wolfgang Petersen and Diana Rathbun to produce. Radiant's Sam Dickerman will executive produce. Peterson may direct.
Pet Therapy
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Rebecca Belfield
Buyer: Castle Rock
Logline: A couple is drawn together through group counseling for those with dead or lost pets.
Side Note: Lawrence Kasdan will develop and possibly direct.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Genre: Fantasy
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics
Producer: Rob Minkoff, Don Hahn, Jason Clark
Logline: Original short by Disney featured Mickey Mouse playing the apprentice whose misuse of the sorcerer's powers wreaks havoc.
Side Note: Remake of the studios 1938 short film. Original version of this film was based on a fairy tale poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and a concerto by French composer Paul Dukas. Don Hahn and Sprocketdyne's Rob Minkoff & Jason Clark will produce. Minkoff will direct.
Tenacious D Project
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Liam Lynch
Buyer: New Line
Producer: Jack Black, Kyle Gass
Logline: Story will be about how the Tenacious D duo of Actor-comedian-rockers Jack Black and Kyle Gass came to be called "The greatest band on Earth."
Side Note: Ben Stiller's Red Hour Films might come aboard in some producing capacity. Flick will be directed by music video helmer Liam Lynch. It will be his feature debut. Black and Gass will produce.
Viva Lefty
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Writer: Barry Stringfellow
Buyer: Columbia Pics.
Producer: Ricky Strauss
Logline: A Major League Baseball pitching phenom blows out his arm and is forced to play in the Mexican league, where he finds love and clarity and regains his form.
Side Note: Spec script. Ricky Strauss and his Ricochet Entertainment will produce.
And Dead I May Well Be
Genre: Drama
Writer: Stephen Gaghan
Author: Adrian McKinty
Buyer: Anonymous Content
Producer: David Kanter, Steve Golin, Stephen Gaghan
Logline: A handsome young Irish mobster sets himself up for retribution when he romances the boss's mistress. He gets caught up in scandal and heads to New York to take a job as enforcer for his drug-dealing cousin.
Side Note: Stephen Gaghan will adapt and direct. Anonymous Content will wait on the script before approaching a studio. Novel will be published fall 2003 by Scribners.
Baby Monitor
Genre: Thriller
Writer: Gary Scott Thompson
Buyer: Alcon Ent.
Purchase Price: mid-six figures/seven-figures
Producer: Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Craig Berenson
Logline: A woman hears via her baby monitor details of a possible crime.
Side Note: Screenwriter Gary Scott Thompson will also serve as exec producer.
Cover Me
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Art Linson, Fiona Lewis
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Logline: Single NY actress switches places with a housewife in order to research a role that could be her big break.
Side Note: Penny Marshall is in negotiations to direct.
Lucid
Genre: Psychological thriller
Writer: Brad Anderson
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Producer: Robert Newmyer, Jeffrey Silver, Scott Strauss
Logline: A woman cannot distinguish between what is real and what is a dream.
Side Note: Brad Anderson will direct. Scott Strauss and Outlaw Productions' Robert Newmyer & Jeffrey Silver will produce.
Maid Of Honor
Genre: Action/Comedy
Writer: Brian Winfrey
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Purchase Price: Low-six figures
Producer: Andrew Gunn, Anne Marie Sanderlin, Mario Iscovich
Logline: Female James Bond type returns to her hometown to attend her estranged sister's wedding.
Roll Bounce
Genre: Coming of Age
Writer: Norman Vance
Buyer: Twentieth Century Fox 2000
Producer: George Tillman Jr., Robert Teitel
Logline: Set against the backdrop of the roller-skating scene of the early '70s.
Side Note: George Tillman and Robert Teitel's State Street Pictures will produce. Adam Robinson and Dana Reid will Executive Produce.
Two Year Mark
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Maisha Yearwood
Buyer: Twentieth Century Fox 2000
Producer: George Tillman Jr., Robert Teitel
Logline: A thirtysomething couple have just broken up but are forced to live with guy's parents after a fire accidentally burns down their loft.
Side Note: George Tillman and Robert Teitel's State Street Pictures will produce. Halle Berry is attached to star.
The Eye
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Writer: Massy Tadjedin
Buyer: Paramount
Producer: Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner, Peter Chan
Logline: A blind woman undergoes corneal transplant surgery that restores her sight but also allows her to see unearthly things.
Side Note: Remake of the hit Asian film. Cruise/Wagner and Peter Chan will produce. The rights were acquired in September 2002. Roy Lee and Doug Davison will executive produce.
If You Only Knew
Genre: Romantic comedy
Writer: Julie Sherman
Buyer: Paramount
Purchase Price: Low-six figures/mid-six
Producer: Kelsey Grammer, Joanne Asquith-Weiss
Logline: The life of a woman who wants to get married changes quickly after a psychic tells her that she will get married in three years. This stops the woman from thinking that every guy is "the one."
Monkeyface
Genre: Thriller
Writer: David Harris
Buyer: Furthur Films
Producer: Laura Bickford, Mark Shorrock
Logline: In Miami, two conniving hustlers, who are at first adversarial, become involved with one another as they attempt to knock off a racetrack.
Side Note: Shooting will begin in Miami in late September. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones will star. Stephen Frears will direct this $50 mil. flick. David Kennaway and Furthur Films' Allen Burry will co-produce. Shorrock and Kennaway developed the script.
Nora's Hair Salon
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Jean-Claude LeMarre
Buyer: Sleeping Giant Films
Producer: Jean-Claude LaMarre
Logline: Ailing matriarch and salon owner who has raised a family of beautician daughters, must decide to whom she should leave her salon.
Side Note: Jean-Claude LaMarre will write and produce for Tim Swain's Sleeping Giant Films. Production will begin on Feb 28th. Jerry LaMothe will direct.
Untitled Reid Comedy
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Alex Reid
Buyer: Paramount/Nickelodeon
Purchase Price: Low-six figures
Producer: Julie Pistor, Ramet Valeska
Logline: A group of misfit kids go away to a junior police academy and become heroes when they solve a real-life crime.
Side Note: Stone Village is producing for Paramount and Nickelodeon. Scott Steindorff is executive producing with Bob Kosberg.
Harry and Caresse
Genre: Drama
Writer: Andrea Berloff
Buyer: Fine Line Features
Logline: Based on the lives of Harry and Caresse Crosby, who influenced the Paris literary scene of the 1920s. The project follows the couple's relationship through drugs, sex and endless parties all in the name of creating art.
Side Note: Jonna Smith and Swanna MacNair will serve as executives in charge of the production.
Paranoia
Genre: Drama
Author: Joseph Finder
Buyer: Paramount
Purchase Price: Six-figures
Producer: Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Logline: In a case of corporate espionage, a young executive is chosen to infiltrate a high-tech rival. As he becomes a rising star at his new employer, he seeks to break the bonds with his former company.
Side Note: Adaptation of Joseph Finder's novel. Lorenzo di Bonaventura will produce. Novel will be published by St. Martin's Press in January 2004.
Terminal
Genre: Drama
Writer: Sacha Gervasi, Jeff Nathanson
Buyer: DreamWorks
Producer: Laurie MacDonald, Walter Parkes
Logline: An Eastern European immigrant becomes a resident of a New York airport terminal when a war breaks out and erases his country from the map, voiding his passport. He makes friends with the airport staff and falls in love with a flight attendant.
Side Note: Steven Spielberg will direct. Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald will produce. Tom Hanks will star in.
Untitled Benioff Script
Genre: Crime/Drama
Writer: David Benioff
Buyer: Paramount
Purchase Price: $1.5 mil.
Producer: Scott Rudin, Tom Lassally
Logline: Centers on the Miami Beach night club owners' Ingrid Casares and Chris Paciello. In 1999, Paciello was arrested on charges of racketeering, murder and bank robbery, all related to his involvement years earlier in a mob crew associated with the Bonanno crime family.
Side Note: Based on true events. Scott Rudin will produce. Kimberly Peirce is attached as director. Peirce has also optioned crime reporter Michelle McPhee's book "Mob Over Miami" to be used as underlying source material for the feature film. This was originally set up at DreamWorks in October 2002, but complications arose.
The Harder They Come
Genre: Drama
Buyer: New Line
Producer: Sara Risher, Rebecca Heller
Logline: A young, small town reggae singer tries to make it in the music business. But as he struggles to make it, he gets caught up in the criminal underworld and becomes a legendary outlaw.
Side Note: Remake of the cult classic 1973 film. Perry Henzell who wrote and directed the original film will exec produce.
The Invaders
Genre: Epic Drama
Writer: Roland Joffe
Buyer: Roland Joffe
Producer: Roland Joffe
Logline: Story is about the first battle between English troops and the Maratha dynasty at Wadgaon in western India in the late 18th century.
Side Note: Script is based on a story by Ajey Jhankar. Roland Joffe will direct this $40 million dollar film. Joffe will also produce along with Peter Rawley's Luzardero production company and Ajey Jhankar's Neelmudra Entertainment. Bollywood's latest star, Vivek Oberoi will star in. The film will be made in English and Hindi.
Monster-In-Law
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Anya Kochoff
Buyer: New Line
Purchase Price: $1.3 mil.
Producer: Chris Bender, J.C. Spink
Logline: A girl is unlucky in love, until she finally finds the man of her dreams. All is perfect until she meets his mother, a woman who plans to ruin their relationship and earn the title of world's worst mother-in-law.
Side Note: Script was part of a bidding war. Benderspink will produce. Deal also includes a blind script deal at the studio for the scribe.
Nine Queens
Genre: Thriller
Writer: Gregory Jacobs, Steven Soderbergh
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Producer: George Clooney, Steven Soderbergh
Logline: Centers on a day in the life of two con artists.
Side Note: Remake of the Spanish-language film that was released in Spring 2002. Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney's Section Eight Productions will produce. Gregory Jacobs, Soderbergh's longtime first assistant director and co-writer of the script, will make his directorial debut. Jennifer Fox and Ben Cosgrove will Executive Produce.
Starting Five
Genre: Drama
Writer: Mark Bacci, Ian Corson
Buyer: Paramount
Producer: Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Logline: NBA star who goes to prison gets a chance at redemption by putting together a basketball team there which plays his former NBA team.
Side Note: Lorenzo di Bonaventura to produce.
The Volunteer
Genre: Sci-fi/Thriller
Writer: Brent Hanley
Buyer: New Line
Producer: Nicolas Cage, Norm Golightly, Richard B. Lewis
Logline: A man discovers that Earth's population is actually filled with aliens who have taken shelter here after their home planet was destroyed.
Side Note: Rewrite of a script by Sam Egan. Saturn Films' Nicolas Cage and his partner Norm Golightly will produce. Ovation Entertainment's Richard Lewis will also produce. Cage will also star in.
Brand New Family
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Lisa Schrager
Buyer: Columbia Pics.
Producer: Joel Gallen, Steve Golin, Larry Kennar
Logline: Female driven comedy set in New Jersey.
Side Note: Joel Gallen is attached to direct. Laura Lichstein and Alix Madigan will executive produce the project through Gallen's Tenth Planet Prods.
Have Gun Will Travel
Genre: Western
Writer: Daniel Pyne
Buyer: Paramount
Logline: Set in 1875 San Francisco, a character named Paladin lives a double life-one as a well-off society man and the other as a reluctant hired avenger of evil.
Side Note: Based on the CBS series which ran from 1957-1963. Jordan Kerner will produce. Paul Neesan will Executive Produce.
The Twits
Genre: Comedy
Writer: John Cleese, Kirk De Micco
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Producer: John Williams
Logline: Mr. and Mrs. Twit, the two nastiest people in the world, play mean practical jokes on each other and mastermind elaborate heists along with their crew of trained animals. But one day, the animals turn the tables on the Twits, framing their ungrateful owners for what was to have been their ultimate heist and living out their days uncaged in South America.
Side Note: Based on the Roald Dahl classic illustrated children's book. Vanguard Films sold this to Disney. Vanguard's John Williams will produce.
Where The Truth Lies
Genre: Mystery/Romance
Writer: Atom Egoyan
Author: Rupert Holmes
Buyer: Atom Egoyen
Logline: A female journalist becomes romantically involved with both members of an estranged comedy team, one of which might be a murderer.
Side Note: Egoyan used his own money to buy the rights to this upcoming novel by Rupert Holmes. Egoyan will adapt and may also direct.
Life Of Pi
Genre: Drama
Writer: Dean Georgaris
Author: Yann Martell
Buyer: Twentieth Century Fox 2000
Purchase Price: Seven-figures
Producer: Gil Netter
Logline: While traveling to America aboard a freighter, a 16-year old boy from India is shipwrecked in the Pacific. Left to fend for himself on a 26-foot life raft with a hyena, an orangutan, an injured zebra and a Bengal tiger, Pi survives for a year on his faith and strength.
Side Note: Adaptation of Yann Martel's novel. Gil Netter will produce. Thia Montroy will co-produce.
Sluts
Genre: Comedy
Writer: Pamela Buchignani
Buyer: Furst Films
Producer: Sean Furst, Brian Furst, Lynette Ramirez
Logline: A fast-living high school rock 'n' roll groupie gets thrown into Catholic school. While there, she must find out how to maintain her hard-core lifestyle or risk rediscovering her innocence.
Side Note: Spec script. Rob Schmidt to direct. Sean & Bryan Furst and Vida Films' Lynette Ramirez will produce. Shauna Thalen will co-produce.
Yes I Can
Genre: Drama
Buyer: Permut Prod.
Producer: David Permut
Logline: Bio of Sammy Davis Jr.
Side Note: Eddie Griffin will star. Rights were acquired from Davis' widow Altovise Davis. The memoirs "Yes I Can" and "Why Me?," which were written by the singer and Jane and Burt Boyar were also optioned. Altovise Davis and Burt Boyar will be associate producers. Steve Longi will co-produce. Barrett LaRoda will Executive Produce. No screenwriter is attached.
Cinderella Man
Genre: Drama
Writer: Akiva Goldsman
Buyer: Miramax/Universal
Producer: Brian Grazer
Logline: Depression era fighter Jim Braddock becomes a folk hero, rising through the ranks to defeat heavyweight champ Max Baer in a 15-round slugfest in 1935.
Side Note: Rewrite of script by Cliff Hollingsworth and rewritten by Charlie Mitchell. Ron Howard will direct. Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer will produce. Russell Crowe will star. First set up at Miramax in December 1999. Mitchell came on to do rewrites in October 2001.
De-Lovely
Genre: Drama
Writer: Jay Cocks
Buyer: UA
Producer: Rob Cowan, Charles Winkler, Simon Channing-Williams
Logline: Bio of composer Cole Porter. He was gay man from Indiana and married for many years to socialite Linda Lee Porter. Although they didn't have a sexual relationship, she was very much his inspiration for his many love songs. After her death, his career ended.
Side Note: Kevin Kline will play Cole Porter for director Irwin Winkler. The film will feature interludes from 30 Porter songs. Shooting will begin in London this May.
Double Or Nothing
Genre: Crime/Action
Writer: April Blair
Buyer: New Line
Producer: Jennifer Lopez, Benny Medina, J.C. Spink, Chris Bender
Logline: Female "Lethal Weapon." A male cop is killed during a stakeout. To solve the crime, the two female cops he was dating are forced to band together to find the killer and figure out which one he truly loved.
Side Note: Jennifer Lopez will star and produce via her Nuyorican Productions along with her manager, Benny Medina. Benderspink's Chris Bender and J.C. Spink will also produce. Jake Weiner will Executive Produce.
Infernal Affairs
Genre: Action
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Purchase Price: 1.75M (for remake rights)
Producer: Brad Grey, Brad Pitt
Logline: A police captain tries to weed out a bad cop in his department who's working for a drug lord. Meanwhile, the crime boss tries to figure out whether there's a traitor in his midst who's informing for the police.
Side Note: Remake of the top grossing film in Hong Kong in 2002. Brad Pitt and Brad Grey will develop the project through their unnamed WB-based company which they own with Jennifer Aniston. Brad Pitt may also star in.
Love and Honor
Genre: Historical Epic
Writer: Randall Wallace
Author: Randall Wallace
Buyer: Walt Disney Pics.
Logline: Set in 18th century Russia and framed around the Revolutionary War, an American is sent to seek out Catherine the Great to prevent her from joining the British to put down the American Revolution. In the process of convincing her to side with him, he falls in love with her.
Side Note: Purchase of the screenplay comes with a guarantee that it will go into production. Script is based on the Randall Wallace book of the same name that will be published by Disney-owned Hyperion. Filming will begin in the fall for a 2004 Christmas release. Wallace's The Wheelhouse shingle will produce the film and develop videogames based on the movie.
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