{HEAT METER} Red Hot Spec “Medusa And Athena” Tearing Up The Town!
1Today, Paradigm and Benderspink teamed to crush the market, dominating with their red hot spec MEDUSA AND ATHENA. The YA fantasy spec is pitched as Maleficent meets Wicked with insane franchise potential, presenting a new twist on an iconic villain. Sources relate that the project is being viewed as a possible tentpole, with everyone in town aching to read.
Earlier today, we announced the first round of territories and the second round. Thus far, the sought-after script was already into Paramount via Jerry Bruckheimer Films, DreamWorks via De Line Pictures, Anonymous Content into Disney, Tripp Vinson’s Vinson Films into Fox, Benderspink into New Line Cinema, Todd Garner’s Broken Road Productions into Sony, Weed Road Pictures into Warner Bros., Elizabeth Banks’ Brownstone Productions brought into Lionsgate, and Scott Stuber into Universal under his Bluegrass Films banner.
Now, I’m getting a confirmation that the heavily requested spec is into STX Entertainment via Voltage Pictures and into MGM via Barry Josephson’s Josephson Entertainment.
Medusa And Athena, which was penned by emerging writer Nir Paniry, spins a new origin story for Medusa the gorgon, the iconic figure from Greek literature whose hair was made of deadly vipers and gaze turned men to stone. The titular Athena of course refers to the Greek deity of the same name, who was known as the goddess of wisdom, justice, and arts, with the Greek city of Athens deriving its name from the character.
Following the success of Maleficent, every studio under the sun has been in a rush to scoop up any and all new takes on classic villains. Several upcoming projects, one focusing on Alice in Wonderland’s Red Queen and another on Wizard of Oz‘s Wicked Witch, have Hollywood abuzz. Medusa And Athena presents a hot new twist on this trend, exploring a hardly tackled subject of Greek literature.
Paniry’s previously known for scripting and helming the sci-fi/drama Extracted, which gained steam when it was nominated for SXSW’s audience award. He’s repped by Adrian Garcia, David Boxerbaum, and Valarie Philips at Paradigm and Benderspink‘s Jake Wagner.
Spec is now into:
Anonymous Content into Disney
Benderspink into New Line
Bruckheimer into Paramount
Broken Road into Sony
Brownstone Prods into Lionsgate
De Line into DreamWorks
Josephson into MGM
Stuber/Bluegrass into Universal
Vinson into Fox
Voltage into STX
Weed Road into Warner Bros.
SEE THE SPEC LISTING HERE FOR MORE INFO!
Stay tuned for more info on this project as it develops!