CAST IS SET FOR ALUM MARC ARNESON'S SCREENPLAY 'PECK'
PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS ALUM SEAN MCCONVILLE DIRECTS FROM HIS OWN SCRIPT 'DEADLINE'
PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS ALUMNA WENDY MILLER SELLS THRILLER SPEC TO RELATIVITY MEDIA
PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS ALUM DAN MAZEAU HIRED TO BRING 'JONNY QUEST' TO THE BIG SCREEN
PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS ALUM FERNLEY PHILLIPS TO PEN HORROR REMAKE FOR NICOLE KIDMAN
PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS ALUMNA JENNA MCGRATH HIRED TO WRITE HORROR ADAPTATION
PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS ALUM DAN MAZEAU SELLS SCREENPLAY 'LAND OF LOST THINGS' TO NICKELODEON
NEW LINE BUYS COMEDY PITCH 'NONE OF HER BUSINESS' FROM PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS ALUMNA CINDY HEWITT
NEW REGENCY BUYS PITCH 'MAN WEDDING' FROM PPSW ALUM DAVE JOHNSON
SCRIPTWRITER MAGAZINE'S PROFILE OF THE UCLA ONLINE PROFESSIONAL PROGRAM IN SCREENWRITING
Marcia Cross picked for 'Peck'
Adam Arkin also stars in indie comedy
By DAVE MCNARY (Variety 06/25/08)
Marcia Cross is toplining indie comedy "Peck" for Jerry Lieder in her first feature since joining "Desperate Housewives."
Adam Arkin, Camryn Manheim, Keir Gilchrist and Brie Larson also are starring.
Michael Nickles is directing from Marc Arneson's script. Shooting's expected to wrap this week.
Story centers on a high schooler who lives under a microscope of parental scrutiny and develops an unlikely friendship with the school's golden girl.
Trio rush to make 'Deadline'
Brittany Murphy, Thora Birch, Tammy Blanchard in thriller
By GREGG GOLDSTEIN (Hollywood Reporter 06/06/08)
Brittany Murphy, Thora Birch and Tammy Blanchard are starring in the psychological thriller "Deadline."
In the "Shining"-style feature, Murphy plays a scribe who travels to an abandoned house to write a screenplay. A bout of writer's block and other unforeseen events lead her to a psychological breakdown.
Sean McConville is making his directorial debut with the independently financed feature, which began principal photography Wednesday in Louisiana. Roger Betterton is producing. Marc Blucas also stars.
Murphy, repped by Paradigm, next appears in the thriller "Across the Hall."
Birch is repped by Special Artists Agency and Keep the Peace Management.
ICM reps Blanchard.
Relativity Media buys untitled thriller
Michael de Luca to produce Miller's spec
By TATIANA SIEGEL (Variety 05/21/08)
Relativity Media has bought tyro scribe Wendy Diane Miller's untitled thriller spec.
Story centers on a college student who takes on a summer internship and finds himself trapped in a dangerous affair with the boss's wife.
Michael De Luca is producing via his Sony-based De Luca Prods. banner. Relativity's Ryan Kavanaugh and Tucker Tooley are also producing.
De Luca Prods.' Alissa Phillips will serve in some producing capacity. Luber/Roklin Entertainment's Stephen Crawford, who developed the project with Miller, will exec produce alongside colleague Matt Luber.
De Luca most recently teamed with Relativity on the upcoming Jim Sheridan-helmed drama "Brothers," starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire. He also produced Mike Myers comedy "The Love Guru," which opens June 20, and the casino-set thriller "21" for Sony.
Untitled thriller marks Miller's first sale.
WB sends 'Jonny Quest' to big screen
By MARC GRASER (Variety 08/07/07)
Mazeau to adapt Hanna-Barbera series
Warner Bros. wants to send Jonny Quest on his first bigscreen adventure. Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter, who have the vidgame-based "Hitman" bowing in October from Fox, will produce the live-action adaptation of the popular 1960s animated TV series from Hanna-Barbera, with Dan Mazeau penning the script.
Series revolved around a young boy who travels the world with his scientist father, adopted brother from India, Bandit the bulldog, and a government agent assigned to protect them as they go on their adventures investigating scientific mysteries. The show, which is owned by Warner Bros. Animation, aired during primetime on ABC in 1964, lasting only one season. It was updated in the late '80s and '90s as "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest" on the Cartoon Network. Property's also been spun off as a comicbook from DC.
Askarieh, a longtime fan of the series, is hoping to turn the property into a family-friendly adventure franchise -- something the studio is clearly looking for now that "Harry Potter" is winding down.
Mazeau recently sold his fantasy adventure spec "Land of Lost Things" to Paramount Pictures' Nickelodeon Films, with Arnold and Anne Kopelson producing.
Warner Bros. execs Dan Lin and Matt Reilly will oversee "Jonny Quest" at the studio, which is lensing another film version of an iconic '60s TV series, "Speed Racer."
Universal sets Kidman for horror film
By MICHAEL FLEMING (Variety 08/07/07)
Universal Pictures has acquired remake rights to the Colombian horror film "Al final del espectro," and will develop it as a starring and producing vehicle for Nicole Kidman. Juan Felipe Orozco, who helmed the original, is attached to direct the remake. Fernley Phillips ("The Number 23") is writing the script.
Kidman will produce through her Blossom Films banner, teamed with Vertigo Entertainment partners Roy Lee and Doug Davison and Rick Schwartz. Latter was a co-producer of "The Departed" and worked with Kidman as exec producer of "The Others" and "Birthday Girl."
Plan is for Kidman to play a woman who, after a tragedy, is encouraged by her father to take refuge in a fancy apartment building. She becomes a shut-in, and begins to see a ghost.
Vertigo's Lee and Davison exec produced "The Invasion," as well as "The Eye" remake that stars Jessica Alba for Lionsgate. They're producing "A Tale of Two Sisters" at DreamWorks and are prepping the Screen Gems remake of the unreleased Spanish language horror film "Rec."
McGrath pen registers with 'Store'
By CAROLYN GIARDINA (Hollywood Reporter 07/30/07)
Strike Entertainment has hired Jenna McGrath to pen an adaptation of Bentley Little's horror novel "The Store." The story centers on an evil corporation's takeover of a small town.
Marc Abraham and Eric Newman are producing under the Strike Entertainment banner. Executive producers are Vince Gerardis, Eli Kirschner and Tom Bliss. Brie Neimand will supervise the project for Strike.
McGrath is a recent graduate of the UCLA screenwriting program, where she won the 2005 Screenwriter's Showcase for "Reverse Psychology," described as a teen thriller about a young psychopath who seeks to destroy the credibility of her boarding school psychologist. She is repped by Paradigm.
Kopelsons seeking 'Lost Things'
Nickelodeon to produce Mazeau script
By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK (printed in Variety 05/23/07)
Arnold and Anne Kopelson will produce fantasy family adventure "Land of Lost Things" for Paramount Pictures' Nickelodeon Movies from a script by tyro Dan Mazeau. Producing with Kopelson Entertainment is Sherryl Clark, previously an exec at the company. Clark now runs the film side of J.J. Abrams shingle Bad Robot. Nick Movies and producers are keeping the logline for "Land of Lost Things" under wraps. The Kopelsons' credits include "Don't Say a Word," "A Perfect Murder," "The Devil's Advocate," "Murder at 1600" and "Seven." Upcoming releases at Nick Movies ("Blades of Glory") include kidpic tentpole "The Spiderwick Chronicles."
Mosaic goes into 'Business'
New Line to produce Hewitts' pitch 'Her'
By DAVE MCNARY, PAMELA MCCLINTOCK (printed in Variety 01/18/06)
New Line has bought comedy pitch "None of Her Business" from scribes Cindy and Donald Hewitt for Mosaic Media Group to produce. Story revolves around a corporate exec who's fired but gets her job back after she disguises herself as a man. Workplace romp turns gender office politics upside down. Mosaic's Charles Roven and Alex Gartner are producers. Mosaic execs Alex Ankeles and Gloria Fan brought the pitch in. New Line's Luke Ryan and Michelle Weiss will oversee for the studio. The Hewitts penned screenplays for the English-language adaptations of Hayao Miyazaki's animated "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Spirited Away."
New Regency at the Altar.
Principato, Young to produce 'Wedding'
By GABRIEL SNYDER, NICOLE LAPORTE (printed in Variety 01/13/06)
HOLLYWOOD -- New Regency has bought Dave H. Johnson's pitch "Man Wedding" in a multi-studio auction in which bidding reached the mid-six figures. Details on the pitch were being closely held, but it follows the "Wedding Crashers" template of combining nuptials with male-driven comedy. Peter Principato and Paul Young are producing through their Principato-Young banner. The Firm's Allen Fischer exec produces, along with Melissa Hook, who came up with the original idea for the pitch. "Man Wedding" is the third pitch the scribe has sold, following "Sweet Child of Mine" to Paramount and an untitled comedy at 20th Century Fox. Shepherding at New Regency are exec VP Kara Francis and creative exec Heidi Sherman.
ScriptWriter Magazine Profiles the UCLA Online Professional Program in Screenwriting