Category Archives: Breaking News
“Star Wars” Breakout Daisy Ridley and Trio of A-List Directors Circle Hot New Spec “American Rebel” (EXCLUSIVE)
A-List talent in front of and behind the camera have started to circle a new spec package that brings one America’s historical female heroes to the big screen.
Robotic Novel “Fuzzy” Makes a Battery-Powered Impression on Film Rights Market (EXCLUSIVE)
Authors Tom Angleberger and Paul Dellinger joined forces to write the recently published children’s book Fuzzy. Now the human and robot friendship novel is making its way into the film rights market in a big away and getting plenty of attention.
The Winners Of The 68th Primetime Emmy Awards
Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 68th Primtime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday in a swiftly-paced event that saw plenty of perennial favorites take home statues, including Game of Thrones and Veep, as well as some first-time wins for stars Kate McKinnon, Rami Malek, and Tatiana Maslany. See the full list of winners from television’s biggest night.
2016 Launch Pad Alum Kristen Bartlett Joins SNL, Signs With Brillstein Entertainment (EXCLUSIVE)
2016 Launch Pad alum Kristen Bartlett has been hired to write for Saturday Night Live ahead of the iconic variety show’s 42nd season premiere and has signed with manager Brandon Stein of Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Bartlett was a finalist in this year’s LPPC with her original comedy pilot GILFs.
The 2016 Launch Pad Feature Competition Final Deadline Is Wednesday!
The FINAL deadline for our 2016 feature competition is this Wednesday, September 21! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to be a part of the competition that in just three years has helped over 160 writers get signed, 54 writers set up projects, 21 earn staff writing jobs for major networks, and sparked three studio bidding wars.
The Light Between Oceans star Michael Fassbender is set to produce The Pilgrimage, a drama from newcomer Irish screenwriter Chris Boyle McQuarry. Fassbender is producing through his DMC Films banner with Conor McCaughan and Daniel Emmerson.
Empire star Taraji P. Henson and Southside with You’s Tika Sumpter have joined a brand new Tyler Perry project. The prolific Perry will produce, write, and direct.
Comedian and actor Marlon Wayans is developing Naked, a new project with Rick Alvarez, whom he often collaborates with, and Todd Garner. All three are set to produce the American remake, which is currently in pre-production and slated to start production this fall. Wayans will also star as the lead character.
Just weeks ahead of its release, The Odds of Lightning, a new YA novel from author Jocelyn Davies, is sparking some heat in the film rights market. The book, which is being published by Simon Pulse, is set to hit bookshelves on September 20.
Prolific director Mark Waters has been tapped to helm the upcoming live-action family comedy from Disney, Magic Camp. It’s being produced by Suzanne Todd, with Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blue working on the most recent draft of the script.
Updated 09.02.16: Mark Townend’s high-concept sci-fi action thriller, pitched as Looper meets Safe House, continues to burn up the market ahead of the holiday weekend, with Screen Gems, Legendary Pictures, and AG Capital being the latest to take a closer look at what has become one of the summer’s hottest specs.
It’s said that truth is stranger than fiction and that is no more apparent than in Search for Isabella V., written by Dan McDermott. The long in development project is now set up at Sierra/Affinity and based on the apparently true story of a billionaire heiress who went on the run, only to have her wealthy father send hit men after her to track her down.
Temple Hill Entertainment has acquired the film rights to acclaimed 2013 picture book Journey by Aaron Becker and has attached Monster House screenwriter Pamela Pettler to adapt the script.
Published a month ago in Glamour, “How a Self-Taught Hacker Escaped a Cult” by Erika Hayasaki, a prominent journalist and author who writes for publications such as The Atlantic, Wired, and The Wall Street Journal, and wrote the book The Death Class, is making its rounds to the film and television rights markets, with plenty of buzz surrounding it. It’s a harrowing true story that has gotten the attention of readers across the world.
Few names are more synonymous with the Roaring ’20s than that of author F. Scott Fitzgerald, known for his novel The Great Gatsby. His tumultuous marriage to Zelda Sayre is also well-known in literary circles and now receiving the biopic treatment in Scott and Zelda: A Tale from the Jazz Age, with Zero Gravity Management and Next Wednesday Productions producing.
As we first reported last week, a new family-oriented sci-fi book Rex hit the market with some real heat behind it. Now, the YA adventure has made its way into some of the town’s biggest animation studios.
The latest graphic novel from legendary cartoonist and satirist Jules Feiffer, Cousin Joseph, hit the bookshelves in July, and now the TV and film rights have made their way to the market.
Big-time producer Dan Lin has found his next project: Lionsgate’s time-traveling adventure For All Time, with a script by relative newcomer David Crabtree. Lionsgate acquired the rights to Crabtree’s original spec at the end of 2013.
Jacobson and Franco are attached to star in the Netflix dramedy 6 Balloons written and directed by Marja-Lewis Ryan. Channing Tatum is producing through his Free Association banner.
In what we’re hearing was an extremely competitive situation, Magnet Management and Condé Nast have secured the rights to an article published in The New Yorker this week, “We Live in the Pop-Culture World That Lou Pearlman Created” by John Seabrook with plans to develop the story into a limited series.
Hot on the heels of some of the biggest film rights deals in history, names like Hardy, Spielberg, Ellison and Rudin are already circling the hot new project being described as Narcos meets The Big Short.
Screenwriter Hillary Seitz has been brought on to rewrite Heist Society for Lionsgate. The crime thriller, based on the Ally Carter novel of the same name, is being produced by Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman.
The only feature story ever published by The New York Times Magazine to occupy an entire issue is now hitting the film rights market with plenty of buzz behind it. Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart by veteran war correspondent Scott Anderson has been captivating readers since its publication earlier this month.
A new horror flick is on the horizon and director brothers Kevin Goetz and Mike Goetz have signed on to direct. Superstition is written by Jeff Reddick and currently set up at Lionsgate.
As summer starts to wind down, the film rights market is heating back up with a new family-oriented sci-fi book, Rex. The YA adventure, co-written by authors Cody B. Stewart, Adam Rocke, and Mark Rogers, is stomping its way onto the film rights market with Kathy Muraviov and Darryl Taja leading the charge.
The writer who helped bring Harry Potter to the big screen, Steve Kloves, and 8 Mile scribe Scott Silver have been brought on to rewrite White Boy Rick. The project comes from a spec by Logan and Noah Miller that was featured on the 2015 Hit List.
Adria Arjona is circling the Melissa McCarthy-led comedy Life of the Party from New Line Cinema. Arjona, who will star in NBC’s upcoming take on The Wizard of Oz, Emerald City, would join previously cast Gillian Jacobs, Jacki Weaver, Molly Gordon, and Maya Rudolph.
The 2016 Launch Pad Pilots Competition: Announcing The Overall Winners, Guaranteed Signing Winner, and Mentorship Selections!
We’re pleased to announce the winners of our 2016 Launch Pad Pilots Competition including the Best Comedy, Best Drama, and our Overall Winner! Plus, we’re announcing the writers who have been selected to join our 2016 Pilots Mentorship Program and the winner of our Guaranteed Signing prize with Lee Stobby Entertainment!
The Expendables 3 helmer Patrick Hughes is set to direct Mark Wahlberg in the thriller Home Invasion for Paramount Pictures. The script comes from Aaron Guzikowski.
Coming off directing Star Trek Beyond, Justin Lin and his production company Perfect Storm Entertainment are set to produce Revenge at a Wedding, a new dark comedy helmed by Nima Nourizadeh.
