October had a strong showing for spec material. Connor Martin’s road comedy Federal Offense found a home at Boundless Pictures. The spec pits three best friends and a foul-mouthed grandfather against a drug kingpin, gangsters, bounty hunters, and the law. Chevy Chase to star. LD Entertainment is moving forward with Ben Bolea’s buddy comedy spec The Miserable Adventures of Burt Squire about a family man in a midlife crisis and an unhinged sea captain who end up shipwrecked in the Atlantic Ocean. Participant Media and Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Productions will produce The Price of Liberty, Michael Russell Gunn’s spec thriller about a diplomat trying to prevent potential terrorist attack after the fall of the Soviet Union. Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller will produce Alex R. Johnson’s drama/thriller spec Northeast Kingdom for Paramount and Bay’s company, Platinum Dunes. The plot follows a young woman who enlists the help of a female assassin to seek revenge against those responsible for her father’s murder. Johnson will also direct. MGM has acquired Fairy Godmother, a comedy/fantasy spec written by Chiara Atik. The script is described as a revisionist take on the classic Fairy Godmother tale. Finally, Fundamental Films and Broken Road Productions are teaming for John McClain’s action/drama spec Hummingbird, which follows a black-ops assassin who questions the truth of her identity.
Other script sales:
– Miles Chapman has signed on to script the sequel to his previous movie Escape Plan. Sylvester Stallone will return to star.
– Erin Cressida Wilson (Secretary, The Girl on the Train) to write the live-action Snow White movie for Disney.
– Brooks McLaren will write the Rambo remake/reboot for Nu Image/Millennium Films. Ariel Vromen (The Iceman) to direct.
– Michael Polish (The Astronaut Farmer) to write and direct the true-crime Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders, to be based on the book by Greg King. Kate Bosworth attached star.
– Terry Schwarzman and Ben Stillman to produce Casey Affleck’s thriller script Villain. Affleck to also star.
– The third entry in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes franchise has assembled its team of writers, which includes Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel), Justin Malen (Office Christmas Party), Gary Whitta (Book of Eli), and Kieran Fitzgerald (Snowden).