Script Pipeline

Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions picked up Claire, a thriller spec by Brad Ingelsby. Claire follows a mother who protects her daughter after she falls in with the wrong crowd. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire will produce Wayne Lemon’s spec The Havana Affair, a true-story thriller about the CIA’s Operation Mongoose. Amazon Studios is moving forward with Max Hurwitz’s Black List spec Forgive Me, a biopic about 60 Minutes’  Mike Wallace and his struggles with depression. Finally, Jason Bateman will produce Jesse Zwick, Allan Haldeman, Emerson Davis, and Michael Weintraub's untitled crime script based on Operation Pandora's Box, a sting operation that resulted in Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca's resignation in 2014. Other script sales include: – Christopher Nolan to write/direct Dunkirk for Warner Bros. The film will be set during WWII and is based on a true story. – David Koepp has signed on to script a Bride of Frankenstein remake/reboot for Universal. – Evan…

Hollywood moved a little slower this month, as is to be expected for the holiday season. MGM picked up Matthew Orton’s untitled historical thriller spec about Mossad agents trying to capture Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. Chuck Hayward’s sorority dramedy Ain’t No Half Steppin found a home at Broad Green Pictures. The story follows a black sorority girl who agrees to teach black Greek stepping to stereotypical white sorority girls who are about to lose their charter. Good Universe is moving forward with Jessie Andrews’ dramedy script Empress of Serenity about a lawyer forced to take a cruise to bond with his estranged father. Bill Hader to star, Andrews to also direct. Max Landis’ Deeper is moving forward at Phantom Four Films and Addictive Pictures. The psychological thriller focuses on a disgraced astronaut on a mission to reach the bottom of an oceanic trench and the mysterious forces he encounters. Finally, Casey Affleck will produce and direct…

Fox picked up Brian Duffield's spec Underwater, a thriller following a crew after an earthquake destroys their underwater station. Fox also bought Ascension, a sci-fi spec written by Shannon Triplett focusing on a scientist after Earth's gravity disappears. Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class) to possibly produce and direct. Focus Features acquired Matt King's drama/thriller spec Boomtown about a sinister criminal conspiracy in North Dakota oil boom country. And New Line optioned Gregg Rossen and Brian Sawyer's female-driven heist spec Met Gala Heist. Other script sales: – Dennis Kelly to pen the sequel to World War Z, based on an earlier draft by Steven Knight. – Olivia Milch has been tapped to write an all-female remake of Ocean's Eleven. George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh to produce, Gary Ross to direct, and Sandra Bullock to potentially star. – 42 to produce the thriller In Darkness, written by Anthony Byrne and Game of Thrones' Natalie Dormer. Dormer to star, Byrne to direct. – Universal picked up Ori Guendelmann…

Warner Bros. acquired Hammerspace, a sci-fi script written by Mike Van Waes. The story focuses on a terminally ill teenager who discovers an alternate, animated dimension while searching for his missing father. After a bidding war, Universal bought Todd Jones and Eral Ritchey Jones' family drama/fantasy spec Humbug, an updated version of Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol. Ice Cube is set to star and produce. And New Line picked up Michael Gunn's The Virginian. The period-action spec follows a young George Washington who, eager to join the British Army, goes on a dangerous mission to conquer a French fort and save the American colonies. Other script sales: – The infamous website Silk Road is getting the movie treatment in Dark Web. Will Staples (Call of Duty) is set to write. – Liam Neeson has signed on to Byron Willinger and Phil de Blasi's thriller The Commuter. – Jordan Peele's horror/thriller script Get Out has been picked up by Blumhouse Productions. Peele is also set to…

Hollywood all but decided to take the month off, making August one of the slowest months for script sales this year. Summit Entertainment and The Gotham Group picked up John Gary's sci-fi/thriller spec, and besides that: no other spec sales. However, a few other projects were set up. Vincent D'Onofrio (Daredevil, Law & Order: CI) is attached to star in and direct screenwriter Andrew Lanham's western The Kid. Jac Schaeffer's Blacklist script The Shower, a sci-fi comedy about an alien attack during a baby shower, is moving forward at Andrew Lauren Productions, with Anne Hathaway to produce/star. Finally, Sascha Penn's thriller script April 29, 1992 was picked up by Lionsgate and Will Packer Productions. Other script sales: – Dwain Worrell's Dante's Inferno found a home at Warner Bros. – Reese Witherspoon to produce/star in Bill Marsilii's supernatural thriller pitch Cold. – New Line picked up Mikki Daughtry and David Boxerbaum's thriller pitch The Children. – Finally, Pez Candy is getting an animated movie, based…

A few specs made it to the next step in May. Fox Searchlight picked up Brian C. Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi’s Pale Blue Dot about a female astronaut whose life begins to unravel after she returns to Earth. Reese Witherspoon set to produce and star. Byron Willinger and Phil De Blasi’s NSA conspiracy thriller spec Command & Control found a home at Vandal Entertainment. Warner Bros. will oversee The Infinite Horizon, a post-apocalyptic Odyssey spec written by Ryan Condal and based on a graphic novel by Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto. Finally, Jeff Morris’ The True Memoirs of an International Assassin, an action-comedy spec about an accountant/aspiring author who is mistaken for a contract killer, has found new life at Netflix after being initially set up in 2009. Kevin James attached to star. Other script sales: – 20th Century Fox is on board Nicholas Stoller's Friend from Home, a comedy about a college student whose new cool life is unraveled…

March was a great month for sci-fi writers, with numerous projects moving forward at different companies. Warner Bros. picked up Jim Uhls’ spec The Leviathan, Matt Savelloni’s horror/sci-fi spec Temple found a home at Erebus Pictures, Chris Hager’s spec Proxima is moving forward with David Lancaster and Jim Wedaa producing, and 20th Century Fox bought Dan Futterman’s dystopian spec A Shot in the Eye. Outside of the sci-fi world, Benderspink will produce Eric Bress’ spec thriller American Hostage, about home invaders who chose the wrong house. Finally, a few supernatural thriller specs are moving forward, including Descendent by Jeff Buhler and Realm by Rebecca Sonnenshine. Other script sales: – Jason Segel and Drew Pearce to write The Billion Brick Race, a spinoff from The Lego Movie. – Gone Girl's Gillian Flynn and 12 Years a Slave's Steve McQueen are teaming for the crime/thriller Widows, about four widows attempting to successfully pull off the heist their husbands died…

For the second month in a row, Script Pipeline alums have made some waves: Evan Daugherty has signed on the write the Tomb Raider reboot, and Tripper Clancy will pen Hasbro’s Hacker Camp, each adding another script to their growing slates of projects. In other news, February was a rather busy month. Sony made a few purchases: Sniper Elite, a thriller based on the Gil Shannon novels by Scott McEwen and to be written by Sheldon Turner; Michael Finch and Alex Litvak’s Medieval, which is described as The Dirty Dozen set in the Middle Ages; and Steve Conrad’s adventure/comedy pitch about a driverless car race from Paris to Beijing, Gore Verbinski helming. Brendan O’Brien and Andrew J. Cohen’s comedy The House was part of a bidding war, eventually finding a home at New Line. John Hamburg, Nicholas Stoller, and Ian Helfer sold their comedy Why Him?, a comedy about a feud…

It was a slower month for script sales (as Decembers usually are). Richard Tanne will write Southside with You, a romance based on Barack and Michelle Obama's first date. State Street Pictures and Paramount are moving forward with Zach Frenkel's 2013 Black List comedy Make a Wish. Ted Nusbaum sold his coming-of-age sports drama In the Crease, which takes place in the world of lacrosse. Will Ferrell tostar in a comedy about the competitive world of Shakespearean theatre companies, based on a pitch by David Guion and Michael Handelman. And Disney picked up Brandon Barker's revisionist Robin Hood spec Nottingham and Hood. Other script sales include: - Jim Carrey will star in Deep Cover, based on a pitch from Johnny Rosenthal. - LAIKA Entertainment is gearing up for their next animated feature, with Chris Butler (ParaNorman) and Marc Haimes on scripting duties, and Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron, Rooney Mara, and Ralph Fiennes lending their voices. - Michael Starrbury (a former…