Ushers by Joe Hill

DEADLINE

Screen Gems Lands Rights To Joe Hill’s Short Story ‘Ushers’ With Gary Dauberman Producing

EXCLUSIVE: Sony’s Screen Gems has acquired rights to Ushers, an unpublished short story written by Joe Hill. Under his first look deal with the studio, Gary Dauberman and his team at Coin Operated will develop and produce with Zak Olkewicz set to write the script. Coin Operated’s President, Mia Maniscalco, will also be a producer.

Plot is being kept under wraps. Ashley Brucks and Michael Bitar will oversee for the studio.

Dauberman is currently producing under his Coin Operated banner, alongside Mångata’s David F. Sandberg and Lotta Losten, the film adaptation of Until Dawn from PlayStation Productions and Sony’s Screen Gems, to be directed by Sandberg, and a screenplay written by Dauberman and Blair Butler.

Olkewicz has ties to the studio having penned the adaptation to their hit action pic Bullet Train.

Olkewicz is repped by CAA and 3Arts. Hill is repped by Hotchkiss Daily & Associates. Dauberman is repped by CAA, Industry Entertainment, Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson McGinnis Ryan,

Stealing The General by Russell S. Bonds

DEADLINE

John Patton Ford Writing To Direct Netflix Drama On Union Spy Whose Hijacking Of Confederate Locomotive Hastened Civil War’s End

EXCLUSIVE: John Patton Ford is writing to direct an untitled film for Netflix with 21 Laps producing. Ford wrote and directed the Aubrey Plaza-starrer Emily The Criminal. Here, he will tell the Civil War story of a Union spy named James Andrews who, with infantry volunteers, conspired to hijack a Confederate locomotive named the General. Racing along at speeds up to 60 MPH, they destroyed track to the main southern supply route behind them and shut down communications by cutting telegraph lines, all to disrupt the Confederacy’s supply line to end the war. The six surviving raiders became the first to receive the Medal of Honor, awarded by Abraham Lincoln. The caper would also be the historical basis for Buster Keaton’s silent film The General.

Ford will write to direct a drama which is based on his idea, and is part of a package that includes Russell Bonds’ seminal Civil War book Stealing the General.

Shawn Levy, Dan Levine and Dan Cohen for 21 Laps, which has Stranger Things with Netflix and the limited series All The Light We Cannot See, with Levy directing all the episodes in the adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning book. The company is also producing the Halle Berry-starrer Never Let Go for Lionsgate, the Netflix limited series The Perfect Couple with Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber, and for Disney+ Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day starring Eva Longoria and George Lopez.

Patton, who will next direct the dark comedy Huntington for Studiocanal and Blueprint Pictures, is repped by CAA, Black Box Management and Yorn Levine Barnes. The book deal was brokered by Hotchkiss Daily & Associates.  

The Apprentice by Gabe Sherman

DEADLINE

‘The Apprentice’: Jeremy Strong And Maria Bakalova Join Sebastian Stan In Donald Trump Pic

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s one you probably didn’t see coming: Sebastian Stan, the Emmy and Golden Globe nominee known for his work in the MCU and the acclaimed Hulu miniseries Pam & Tommy, has been tapped for the role of a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice, a new film from Cannes prize-winning Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider).

Also aboard the film in major roles are Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jeremy Strong (Succession) and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3). Production commenced this week.

Billed as an exploration of power and ambition, set in a world of corruption and deceit, The Apprentice will examine Trump’s efforts to build his real estate business in New York in the ’70s and ’80s, also digging into his relationship with infamous attorney Roy Cohn. It’s a mentor-protege story that charts the origins of a major American dynasty. Sources tell Deadline that Strong will play Cohn, with Bakalova as Trump’s first wife, Ivana.

News of the project comes as the former POTUS stands trial in New York for fraud. Although currently under multiple indictments in multiple cases, the twice impeached Trump’s eyeing a return to the Oval Office as the current Republican frontrunner for 2024.

The writer for the Apprentice pic is Gabriel Sherman, whose bestseller The Loudest Voice in the Room inspired Showtime’s miniseries The Loudest Voice, starring Russell Crowe as Fox News founder Roger Ailes. The producers are Daniel Beckerman of Scythia Films, Jacob Jerek of Profile Pictures and Ruth Treacy of Taylored Films. The executive producers are Grant Johnson, Gabriel Sherman and Amy Baer.

One of the most versatile actors of his generation, Stan has already memorably portrayed many a real-life figure — most recently stepping in to the role of Robinhood Markets CEO Vladimir Tenev in Dumb Money, Craig Gillespie’s pic on the GameStop short squeeze of 2021, which was released by Sony in September after premiering at TIFF. He previously drew rave reviews for his turns as Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee opposite Lily James’ Pam Anderson on Hulu’s Pam & Tommy, and broke out with his turn as Jeff Gilooly, the abusive spouse of elite figure skater Tonya Harding, in the Gillespie-helmed I, Tonya. Otherwise best known for his work as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier in projects ranging from Captain America: The First Avenger to the forthcoming Thunderbolts, Stan will next be seen in the A24 thriller A Different Man, which he exec produced and stars in opposite Reinate Reinsve.

Currently on his third Emmy nomination for his stellar lead turn on HBO’s Succession, which wrapped up its fourth and final season over the summer, Strong’s other recent credits include James Gray’s Armageddon Time, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen. He’ll also soon be seen starring alongside Michael Imperioli and more in a Broadway revival of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People produced by Plan B. The strictly limited 16-week engagement begins previews at Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, and will open Monday, March 18th.

Bakalova will be seen starring opposite Emilia Jones and Scoot McNairy in the Sofia Coppola-produced drama Fairyland, which world premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Other projects in the can for the actress are the sci-fi dramedy O Horizon and Jerry Seinfeld-directed Netflix pic Unfrosted. In development at Paramount is a Paul-Feig helmed spy comedy in which she’s set to star opposite Stan. The actress broke out with her Oscar-nominated turn in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and more recently voiced Cosmo the Spacedog in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Directing two episodes for the first season of HBO’s smash hit video game adaptation The Last Of Us, Abbasi’s most recent feature, Holy Spider, premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where star Zar Amir Ebrahimi won the award for Best Actress. The serial killer thriller went on to be selected as the official Danish entry for the Best International Feature Oscar and was shortlisted, though not ultimately nominated.

A New York Times bestselling author and special correspondent for Vanity Fair, Sherman has also written and served as a consulting producer on ABC’s crime drama Alaska Daily.

Stan is repped by CAA, Brookside Artist Management, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; Strong by WME, Sugar23, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; Bakalova by CAA, Brookside Artist Management, Insight Management & Production in the UK, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes; Abbasi by CAA, LARK in the UK, and Entertainment 360; and Sherman by Hotchkiss Daily & Associates and Entertainment 360.

The Black Phone by Joe Hill

DEADLINE

Blumhouse’s ‘The Black Phone 2’ Sets Summer 2025 Release Date

Lots of release dates changes and additions as the theatrical release schedule take a turn due to the ongoing actors strike. Universal Pictures has staked out June 27, 2025 for The Black Phone 2. The first movie, released during the summer 2022 as moviegoers were coming back to cinemas from the pandemic, was a surprise sleeper making over $90M domestic, $161M worldwide.

No creative announcement on this, or whether filmmaker Scott Derrickson is returning.

Blumhouse had this 2025 date RSVP’ed where there’s currently Disney’s live-action Moana dated and a Sony Marvel live-action feature.

Sweet Magnolias by Sherryl Woods

‘Sweet Magnolias’ Renewed For Season 4 By Netflix

Netflix‘s popular romantic drama Sweet Magnolias has been picked up for a fourth season. Like the first three seasons, Season 4 will consist of 10 episodes. The renewal comes three months after Season 3 of Sweet Magnolias debuted on July 20.

The delay in the announcement was due to logistics, including the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, but the pickup was never in doubt as the series continues to draw large, passionate female audiences. Across its three seasons to date, Sweet Magnolias has been in the Global Top 10 for 10 weeks in over 60 countries, with the most recent third season debuting at No. 1.

Still, fans had a mild reason for concern as the Season 3 finale largely wrapped storylines in a nice bow, ending on a dance and a kiss vs. major cliffhangers for the Season 1 and Season 2 enders, including a car crash with lives hanging in the balance and a surprise marriage proposal.

Based on the popular series of novels published by best-selling author Sherryl Woods, Sweet Magnolias follows lifelong best friends Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott), and Helen (Heather Headley) as they juggle relationships, family, and careers in the small town of Serenity, SC.

Sheryl J. Anderson returns as showrunner and executive producer; Dan Paulson, whose Daniel L. Paulson Productions is producing, also returns as an executive producer, along with Woods.

Sweet Magnolias is part of Netflix’s lineup of “comfort” lighter scripted dramas that also includes originals like Virgin River (renewed for Season 6), The Lincoln Lawyer (renewed for Season 3), Ginny & Georgia (renewed for Seasons 3 and 4) and Firefly Lane, which recently ended its run, as well as popular licensed series such as Suits.

Sweet Magnolias by Sherryl Woods

DEADLINE

‘Sweet Magnolias’ Gets Season 3 Premiere Date At Netflix

Netflix has set July 20 for the Season 3 premiere of Sweet Magnolias, and has released some first-look photos of the upcoming 10-episode season (see above and below).

Based on Sherryl Woods’ popular series of novels, Sweet Magnolias follows lifelong best friends Maddie (Joanna Garcia Swisher), Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott) and Helen (Heather Headley), who are born and raised in Serenity, SC, a small southern town where everybody knows everybody and everybody knows everybody’s business.

Season 2 ended with several cliffhangers. Ronnie and Dana Sue reunited, but mystery-woman Kathy might mean trouble for Dana Sue in the upcoming season. The season also ended with the death of Miss Frances (Cindy Karr) and Maddie, with Helen and Dana Sue in mourning over her passing.

In Season 3, following the brawl at Sullivan’s, Maddie wrestles with the best way to help Cal (Justin Bruening) and works to clear her own emotional path. Helen faces difficult decisions about the men in her life. And Dana Sue searches for a way to use Miss Frances’ check to help the community, without upending her family. The identity of the tire slasher sends shockwaves through Serenity, the recall causes unexpected consequences, and there are romantic surprises in every generation.

Cast also includes Chris Klein (Bill Townsend), Jamie Lynn Spears (Noreen Fitzgibbons), Carson Rowland (Tyler Townsend), Logan Allen (Kyle Townsend), Chris Medlin (Isaac Downey), Anneliese Judge (Annie Sullivan), Brandon Quinn (Ronnie Sullivan) and Dion Johnstone (Erik Whitley).

Sheryl J. Anderson serves as showrunner and executive produces with Dan Paulson and Woods. Norman Buckley and Matt Drake co-executive produce. The series is a Daniel L. Paulson production.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley

VARIETY

‘Sherlock’ Star Martin Freeman, ‘The Sandman’ Actor Isla Gie to Headline ‘Flavia de Luce,’ Protagonist to Launch at Cannes (EXCLUSIVE)

Isla Gie (“The Sandman”) will star alongside Martin Freeman (“Sherlock,” The Hobbit”) in the upcoming feature film adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery.”

Protagonist Pictures is launching international sales on the family adventure and will introduce to buyers at the upcoming Cannes film market. CAA Media Finance are handling North America.

Adapted by Susan Coyne (“Daisy Jones and the Six”), the film will follow the adventures of 11-year-old Flavia de Luce (Gie), who is both an amateur detective and a master poisoner. When she discovers a dead body in her family’s decaying British manor house and her father is accused of the murder, Flavia launches her own investigation to uncover family secrets and bring the true murderer to justice.

The film will be directed by Emmy and BAFTA-nominated director Bharat Nalluri (“The Man Who Invented Christmas,” “Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day”).

The film is being produced by Paula Mazur and Mitchell Kaplan for The Mazur Kaplan Company and Robert Mickelson for Mystic Point, with Protagonist Pictures CEO Dave Bishop and chief commercial officer George Hamilton serving as executive producers.. The two production companies previously collaborated on “The Man Who Invented Christmas.”

Bishop said: “Flavia is a most charming and resourceful heroine with an insatiable curiosity in her fearless pursuit of the truth and we have no doubt this amateur detective will become a firm family favorite as she jumps from page to screen. Full of mystery, suspense and humor and rounded out with a fantastic cast, this is exactly the type of film audiences are craving for and we are honored to be launching Flavia’s first big screen adventure into the marketplace.”

Alan Bradley’s novel on which the film is based, won numerous awards, including The Debut Dagger Award, The Agatha Award and The Dilys Award. It was named the New York Times Review Favorite Mystery of The Year and was included in Amazon’s Top 10 in Mysteries and Thrillers. The novel is the first in a series of 10 Flavia de Luce mysteries.

Wonder Boy by Angel Au-Yeung and David Jeans

Hollywood Reporter

Justin Chon — the actor and filmmaker behind films Blue Bayou and Gook — and Scooter Braun’s SB Projects are developing a feature about the life and career of e-commerce giant and Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.

Chon and SB Projects have optioned the upcoming biography Wonder Boy: Tony Hsieh, Zappos and the Myth of Happiness in Silicon Valley (out via Henry Holt & Company on April 25) by The Wall Street Journal‘s Angel Au-Yeung and Forbes Magazine’s David Jeans.

Hsieh revolutionized e-commerce with Zappos, the online shoe retailer that offered customers free shipping and returns and put an extreme emphasis on customer service, a then-rare approach to online shopping. Internally, Zappos’ corporate culture was unique even among tech companies, and in 2013, Hsieh made headlines when he announced that the company would eliminate all titles.

he adaptation, according to the project’s description, will follow the life of Hsieh “an American internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist who grew up in Northern California, attended Harvard University and went on to become the CEO of Zappos, moving the world headquarters to Las Vegas where he restored much of the historic downtown and became famous in the tech world for his ‘happiness’ work culture before his tragic death in a mysterious house fire in 2020. He was 46 years old.”

(Hsieh’s died due to injuries suffered in a house fire. At the time, a report released by the New London, Connecticut fire and police investigators said, “It is possible that carelessness or even an intentional act by Hsieh could have started this fire.”)

Along with Chon, Braun, James Shin, and Scott Manson will produce on behalf of SB Projects, which recently released the latest season of FX comedy Dave and is behind the upcoming reggaeton-inspired Netflix feature Neon. Au-Yeung and Jeans will executive produce.

Chon, repped by APA and McKuin Frankel, directed and executive produced the AppleTV+ drama Pachinko and is currently directing the pilot and executive producing the Jason Momoa led AppleTV+ series Chief of War.

The book rights deal was made on behalf of the Ross Yoon Agency by Hotchkiss Daily & Associates.

The House Across The Lake by Riley Sager

DEADLINE

Netflix Acquires Riley Sager Bestseller ‘The House Across The Lake’; Berlanti Productions, Feigco Producing; Paul Feig Eyeing To Direct

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has closed a deal to develop the 2022 bestselling Riley Sager novel The House Across The Lake, developing as a potential directing vehicle for Paul Feig. Pic will be produced by Berlanti Productions and Feigco, with Sarah Schechter, Greg Berlanti and Mike McGrath producing for Berlnti, and Feig and Laura Fischer for Feigco.

Casey Fletcher is a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press. She retreats to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of bourbon, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple living in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is rich, and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.

One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. The more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage isn’t as perfect as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey becomes consumed with finding out what happened to her. In the process, she uncovers eerie, darker truths that turn a tale of voyeurism and suspicion into a story of guilt, obsession and how looks can be very deceiving.

Deal for Sager was done by Hotchkiss Daily & Associates on behalf of Michelle Brower at Trellis Literary.

The Residence by Kate Andersen Brower

VARIETY

Shondaland Netflix Series ‘The Residence’ Adds 11 to Cast, Including Andre Braugher, Jason Lee, Bronson Pinchot, Susan Kelechi Watson

The upcoming Shondaland Netflix series “The Residence” has added 11 new cast members, Variety has learned.

The new cast members are: Andre Braugher, Edwina Findley, Molly Griggs, Jason Lee, Ken Marino, Al Mitchell, Dan Perrault, Bronson Pinchot, Susan Kelechi Watson, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and Mary Wiseman. The group joins previously announced series lead Uzo Aduba.

The official logline for the series states, “132 rooms. 157 suspects. One dead body. One wildly eccentric detective (Aduba). One disastrous State Dinner. ‘The Residence’ is a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion.”

Braugher (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “The Good Fight”) plays White House Chief Usher. A.B. Wynter. Findley (“The Power,” “The Wire”) plays Sheila Cannon, White House Butler. Griggs (“Dr. Death,” “Servant”) plays Lilly Schumacher, President Morgan’s Social Secretary. Lee (“My Name is Earl,” “Almost Famous”) plays Tripp Morgan, President Perry Morgan’s younger brother and a bit of a screw-up. Marino (“The Other Two,” “Party Down”) plays Harry Hollinger, President Perry Morgan’s oldest friend, closest advisor, and most trusted confidante.

Mitchell (“Stranger Things,” “Ozark”) plays Rollie Bridgewater, Head Butler/Maitre d’. Perrault (“Strays,” “Players”) plays Colin Trask, Head of the Presidential Detail for the Secret Service. Pinchot (“Our Flag Means Death,” “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley”) plays Didier Gotthard, White House Executive Pastry Chef. Kelechi Watson (“This Is Us,” “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”) plays Jasmine Haney, a young and rising White House Assistant Usher. Whitlock (“Your Honor,” “The Wire”) plays Larry Dokes, Chief of Police, Metropolitan Police Department. Wiseman (“Star Trek: Discovery,” “Baskets”) plays Marvella, White House Executive Chef.

Paul William Davies is the showrunner and executive producer on “The Residence.” Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers executive produce on behalf of Shondaland via the company’s Netflix overall deal. Davies is also under an overall deal at Netflix. Liza Johnson will direct the first four episodes. The show marks the latest collaboration between Davies and Rhimes. He previously created the ABC legal drama “For the People,” which was produced by Shondaland. He was also a writer on the hit ABC series “Scandal,” which Rhimes created.

Braugher is repped by WME, Viewpoint and attorney Keith Klevan. Marino is repped by Artists First. Perrault is repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners and UTA. Mitchell is repped by Jana VanDyke Agency and CSP Management. Wiseman is repped by Gersh and Lighthouse Management & Media. Findley is repped by More / Medavoy Management. Griggs is repped by Paradigm and Perennial Entertainment. Lee is repped by Hansen Jacobson. Pinchot is repped by Artists & Representatives and Bohemia Group. Kelechi Watson is repped by UTA, Authentic Talent & Literary Management, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman. Whitlock is repped by Innovative Artists, Liebman Entertainment, and Schreck Rose.

Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton

VARIETY

Robert Pattinson Awakes From Cryogenic Sleep As Mickey 17

Robert Pattinson’s last space sci-fi film saw the actor playing a prisoner made to serve his sentence on a shuttle hurtling toward a black hole (among other human-rights offenses, including really messed-up sexual harassment). His next space drama? Mickey 17, a Bong Joon Ho joint based on the novel Mickey7, by Edward Ashton, which tells the story of an employee on an expedition to colonize an ice world — but he’s doing it only for the check. The Warner Bros. film, out on March 29, 2024, is currently in production and is written, directed, and produced by the Oscar-winning Parasite director. Not much has been said about the script, but the first look at the film depicts a comatose Pattinson emerging from sleep in what appears to be a cryogenic freezer in what seems like a tricked-out MRI machine in a long, sparse room. Steven Yeun (Minari), Naomi Ackie (I Wanna Dance With Somebody), Toni Collette (Hereditary), and Mark Ruffalo (the Hulk) round out the cast. If Bong’s previous films are anything to go by, Mickey 17 is likely shaping up to be another social thriller that will thaw right in time for the start of 2025’s awards-season race.

The Flagmakers from Cynthia Wade and Sharon Liese

DEADLINE

Mark Gordon Pictures Adapting Awarding-Winning Docu-Short ‘The Flagmakers’ Into Stage Musical

EXCLUSIVE: Mark Gordon Pictures has tapped playwright John J. Caswell Jr. to adapt a stage musical of the acclaimed short documentary The Flagmakers, from Oscar winner Cynthia Wade and AFI Doc Award winner Sharon Liese. The New York Public Theater’s associate artistic director Saheem Ali is attached to direct.

The doc, from National Geographic Documentary Films, is a meditation on the American dream, following workers at the employee-owned Eder Flag in Oak Creek, WI, the country’s largest maker of American flags and flagpoles, which sews and ships 5 million American flags per year. The flagmakers — locals, immigrants and refugees — stitch stars and stripes as they wrestle with identity and belonging. The film provides an intimate glimpse into the people whose hands make America’s most recognizable icon.

The film was nominated for Best Short Documentary at the 2022 Critics Choice Documentary Awards and was awarded Best Documentary Short by the SCAD Savannah Film Festival and Denver International Film Festival.

Gordon, who served as an executive producer on the film, was quick to secure stage rights and felt it could be a musical.

“There is something inherently theatrical, both joyful and painful, about a community of immigrants and refugees working together to physically craft the symbol of a country that provides them with opportunity, while at the same time oppressing them,” Gordon said. “I am looking forward to working with John and Saheem to bring a new life and their unique perspectives to this beautiful and complex story.”

Caswell’s new works include Man Cave, a Mexican-American horror story that recently premiered at the Connelly Theater and is produced by Page 73 Productions. In 2023, he will world premiere the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award winner Wet Brain by Playwrights Horizons and MCC Theater.

Ali‘s production of Fat Ham, a Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2022, will transfer to Broadway in March 2023. His long-anticipated production of Goddess opened at Berkeley Repertory Theatre this summer. His production of Merry Wives was recently recorded for PBS Great Performances, and was the subject of the documentary Reopening Night on HBO Max. He is a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, a Sir John Gielgud SDCF Fellow, and a Shubert Fellow.

Ali is repped by UTA and Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham. Caswell is repped by UTA and Empirical Evidence.

Hot Dog Money by Guy Lawson

Deadline

Amazon Studios, George Clooney & Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Land ‘Hot Dog Money’; Marty Blazer Comes Clean On His Role In NCAA Hoops Scandal

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios and George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse acquired in a six-against seven-figure deal screen rights to Hot Dog Money: Inside the Biggest Scandal in the History of College Sports. Book was written by Guy Lawson, whose Rolling Stone article “Arms and the Dudes” became the Todd Phillips’ movie War Dogs at Warner Bros, whose New York Times Magazine article “Ice Pack” has been adapted for Will Ferrell at Sony, his RS article Oxy-Gen is being adapted at MGM for Pete Davidson, and other true-crime reporting spread around town.

Lawson spent two years working secretly with Marty Blazer, the ex-manager whose cooperation as a confidential informant with the FBI resulted in a 2017 ESPN live broadcast with prosecutors from the Southern District of New York successfully bringing charges against managers, coaches and schools for corruption in the NCAA. It’s similar to what Nick Pileggi had with Henry Hill that led to Goodfellas; Blazer was forced to tell the truth if he wanted to avoid prison, after stealing $2 million from his NFL clients’ financial accounts. It also has parallels to The Wolf of Wall Street, with the FBI even using the same marina as was depicted in that film in a memorable scene between Leonardo DiCaprio and Kyle Chandler.

Now that the movie deal is in place, the book’s rep, Jody Hotchkiss of Hotchkiss, Daily & Associates, will take it out to the publishing community to make that deal. It is unclear what role Clooney might play as actor or director at this early juncture, but his Smokehouse has a first-look with Amazon, where it made The Tender Bar, the J.R. Moehringer memoir that Clooney directed. Kerry Foster and Heslov steered the deal and Michael Chong is the exec at Amazon where Smokehouse has its deal. Several suitors vied for the book.  

Deadline got hold of a summary letter sent to the film community, and it speaks to the breadth of the scandal and cuts to the core of the problems inherent in the indentured servitude that is college sports. Billions of dollars are generated and everybody gets rich but the players. That includes coaches, broadcasters, network executives and others, with legalized sports betting services seemingly next in line. In hopes they will have a shot at the riches of a pro career, athletes get tuition, room and board, paltry compared to the fortunes their talents generate.  

The story of Blazer, Hot Dog Money is more than an exposé of college football and basketball or the exploitation of kids by the NCAA under the banner of amateurism. At its heart, this is a 21st century American story about systemic corruption in one of the largest “industries” in the country: college sports. Managers, coaches and schools with the look-the-other-way help of the NCAA conspired to manipulate and prey upon gifted young athletes. Also complicit were companies like Adidas and Under Armour, as well as TV outlets paying billions to broadcast games.

This story begins in 2013 when Blazer, a Pittsburgh financial advisor to NFL players, went to Manhattan to confess to the federal government for the theft of more than $2 million from his football star clients. A habitual liar and master of evasion, Blazer had been warned by his attorney that if he lied about anything, anything in his confession, federal prison would follow. Thus forewarned, Blazer told the truth to the federal prosecutor from the Southern District of New York.

Blazer said that for years he had made secret payments to talented college players—what was called “hot dog money”—hoping for financial return in the form of future NFL clients. He also paid for luxury cars as well as comping five-star hotel rooms and nights at high-end strip clubs. Blazer said he wasn’t the only person acting in this manner—to the contrary, everyone did it, and everyone in sports knew about it. Blazer testified in detail about how the industry really worked—the kind of organized criminal conspiracy that the Southern District thrives on. To avoid a trial with a likely conviction Blazer convinced the federal government to send him undercover in college sports which led to a years-long investigation.

Blazer became a cooperating informant and feds armed him with a recording device to hunt for criminal conspiracies in the world of NCAA sports. Working his contacts with coaches, agents and lawyers as well as more nefarious operators and runners, Blazer found Christian Dawkins. Dawkins was immersed in the kingdom of NCAA basketball, opening doors to high-profile coaches, colleges and companies in an elaborate FBI investigation that sprawled from Miami Beach to Atlanta, Manhattan and Las Vegas.

Collaborating with a gruff FBI Special Agent named Scott Carpenter and a handsome undercover agent with the false identity of Jeff DeAngelo, Blazer met with different conspirators in five-star luxury hotel suites, beachside resorts and the most expensive restaurants and strip clubs in the country, while always under the watchful eye of the FBI. He even launched a cover business incorporated as LOYD, short for Live Out Your Dreams. Blazer pumped hundreds of thousands of FBI dollars to coaches and schools including Louisville, Arizona, Alabama and UCLA.

The takedown in the fall of 2017 was broadcast live on ESPN and drew countless headlines, with Blazer portrayed in the press as a criminal con man. But the real story was more interesting. What Blazer revealed was, in essence, an operation with colleges, coaches and agents intended to control the futures of eventual NBA superstars like Zion Williamson and Deandre Ayton.

In the aftermath of the investigation, Blazer sat down with top NCAA officials to fully explain how corrupt college sports worked. The NCAA thanked Blazer without asking a single question or pursuing any of the additional leads that he offered. But as a consequence of Blazer’s work, as well as the passage of state laws and a Supreme Court ruling, the NCAA now permits players to benefit from the sale of their name, image and likeness (NIL). Less known is the fact that the NCAA declined to address the greater systemic problems uncovered by Blazer’s investigation.

A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi

DEADLINE

Avantika To Headline ‘A Crown Of Wishes’ Fantasy Series In Works At Disney Branded TV For Disney+

EXCLUSIVE: Disney Branded Television is developing A Crown of Wishes, a live-action YA series based on the second book in Roshani Chokshi’s bestselling Star-Touched Queen duology. Avantika (Spin, Senior Year) is attached to star and executive produce the project for Disney+.

A Crown of Wishes is a fantasy series rooted in Hindu mythology. The novel centers on Princess Gauri (Avantika), who is imprisoned after a failed siege against her malevolent brother, the King of Bharata. When Gauri is exiled from her kingdom, she reluctantly teams up with Vikram, an untrustworthy prince from a rival neighboring land, to enter the Tournament of Wishes. One wish will be granted to the winner, and though Princess Gauri and Prince Vikram have differing agendas, they will be forced into an uneasy alliance—and unexpected romance—while saving both their kingdoms.

Zanne Devine (Easy A, I, Tonya, Spin, The Grizzlies) of Montana North Media will executive produce alongside Avantika. Raj Raghavan of ColorCreative will be a co-executive producer. Jessica Sonnefeld Jolles of Montana North co-produces.

Avantika most recently was seen opposite Rebel Wilson in Senior Year, and also starred as Rhea Kumar in the Disney Channel movie Spin, the network’s first original with an Indian American lead. Her previous credits include a recurring role in the Disney+ series Diary of a Future President from executive producer Gina Rodriguez, and the Netflix feature Moxie directed by Amy Poehler. Next up, Avantika will be seen on the big screen alongside Jacob Batalon, Alana Boden and Adain Bradley in Screen Gems and Alloy Entertainment’s Horrorscope.

She is repped by Greene Talent, ColorCreative, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.

The deal for Roshani Chokshi was made by The Dijkstra Agency with Hotchkiss Daily & Associates.

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

Hollywood Reporter

Sony’s ‘Home Before Dark’ Enlists ‘There’s Someone Inside Your House’ Director, ‘The Invitation’ Writer (Exclusive)

Patrick Brice and Blair Butler are adapting Riley Sager’s novel for 21 Laps.

Sony is making moves on its adaptation of the 2020 novel Home Before Dark, adding filmmaker Patrick Brice to direct from a script by Blair Butler. 21 Laps, the Shawn Levy-led production banner behind Stranger Things and The Adam Project, is producing.

The plot of the film, which is in early development, is being kept under wraps, though Riley Sager’s book is centered on a young woman, Maggie, whose family fled their Victorian home 25 years earlier in an event that inspired her father to pen a best-selling nonfiction book claiming they experienced a haunting. Maggie, now an adult, doesn’t remember those events and doesn’t believe her father’s book. But when she inherits the old family home after her father’s death, she starts to question if there’s more to the house than she believed.

SVP Emily Morris and creative executive Emily Feher will oversee the adaptation for 21 Laps.

Brice most recently directed the slasher film There’s Someone Inside Your House for Netflix and cut his teeth on 2014’s Creep, the low-budget Mark Duplass starrer that became a cult hit and spawned a 2017 sequel. He also helmed episodes of the Duplass brothers’ Room 104 as well as the Sundance feature Corporate Animals, starring Demi Moore, Jessica Williams and Ed Helms, and The Overnight, starring Taylor Schilling, Adam Scott, Jason Schwartzman and Judith Godrèche.

Home Before Dark is a reunion for Sony and Butler, with Sony’s Screen Gems releasing The Invitation in theaters over the weekend. Butler’s previous credits include the 2019 horror film Polaroid and the 2018 slasher Hell Fest. She previously served as a producer on Hulu and Marvel’s series Hellstrom, and is developing Omega with Sony Pictures and Mortal Kombat director Simon McQuoid.

Brice is repped by CAA, Grandview and Jackoway Austen. Butler is repped by CAA, Industry Entertainment and Lichter Grossman. Sager is repped by Hotchkiss Daily & Associates and Trellis Literary.

The Sting by Flinder Boyd

DEADLINE

Matthew McConaughey To Star For Director Kari Skogland In Skydance/Berlanti Schechter Soccer Film ‘Dallas Sting’

EXCLUSIVE: Matthew McConaughey is set to star in Dallas Sting, the fact-based story of how a group of Dallas high school girls headed to China in 1984 as the ultimate underdog and beat some of the best women’s teams from China, Australia and Italy. Kari Skogland is attached to direct the film developed by Skydance and Berlanti Schechter Productions. Apple, which has an overall deal with Skydance, has first bite at the film and I expect a deal to happen before production begins this fall in New Orleans.

Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger are producing with Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Robbie Rogers. Michael McGrath is exec producer. Those producers won a movie auction to acquire an unpublished article by Flinder Boyd.

In the drama scripted by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch (GLOW), McConaughey will play Bill Kinder, the coach who led the rag-tag group of Texas teens toward a Rocky-esque destiny. Long before the U.S. Women’s national team achieved Olympic and World Cup dominance, came the Dallas Sting.

In 1984, President Reagan made a concerted effort to open relations with China. China in turn invited America to send its U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to the first world championship they were holding for women’s soccer. There was only one problem – there was no U.S. Women’s Soccer Team. A nationwide search led officials to a 19-and-under league of Dallas high school girls who called themselves The Sting, after the recent Robert Redford-Paul Newman hit movie. Led by Kinder — who had no prior experience coaching soccer before he formed the team — the story of how this passionate group of young women got to China was miraculous. And what they did against the world’s top women’s teams from China, Australia and Italy — comprised of grown women who played together for years — was nothing short of a miracle.

In order to form the team nearly 40 years ago, Kinder had to get a note from a gynecologist asserting that playing soccer would not harm a woman’s reproductive organs. Texas parents who envisioned their daughters waving pom-poms at halftime soon became the cheerleaders for this eclectic mix of girls drilled to precision by a Lombardi-like coach, and became a local powerhouse. They then overcame bureaucracy just to be able to make the trip, and rose to the occasion despite being underdogs against dominant international teams. All this led by a coach who so believed in The Sting that he charged $85,000 on his credit cards for non-refundable tickets to ensure the team got to China, where many expected they would lose badly. Cue the Rocky theme music.

Skogland, Flahive, Mensch and McConaughey are all repped by WME. The scribes are managed by Kaplan/Perrone and Skogland is managed by Anonymous Content. Flinder Boyd was repped by Hotchkiss Daily & Associates.

The Residence by Kate Anderson Brower

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Shonda Rhimes Sets White House Murder-Mystery ‘The Residence’ at Netflix

The series, from Shondaland alum Paul William Davies (‘Scandal,’ ‘For the People’), is described as a “screwball whodunnit” that uses Kate Anderson Brower’s book as a jumping off point.

As Inventing Anna continues to rank in Netflix’s top 10, Shondaland has set another scripted original series at the streaming giant.

Shonda Rhimes and her longtime Shondaland partner Betsy Beers will executive produce The Residencea mystery drama that has been ordered straight to series. The drama will use Kate Anderson Brower’s book, The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, as a jumping off point to tell a new murder-mystery story.

The eight-episode drama is from showrunner and exec producer Paul William Davies, a Shondaland veteran whose credits include ABC’s Scandal and creating For the People (the latter of which starred Bridgerton favorite Regé-Jean Page).Here’s the official logline for The Residence, per Netflix: “132 rooms. 157 suspects. One dead body.

One wildly eccentric detective. One disastrous State Dinner. The Residence is a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion.”

The Residence will be produced in-house at Netflix via Shondaland’s overall deal as well as the multiple-year pact Davies has with the streamer. Davies, who has a doctorate in history from UC Berkeley, previously clerked for a federal judge in L.A. before practicing law for more than a decade.

The Residence continues Rhimes’ love of exploring the political world following her love of Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing and her ABC political soap Scandal, which in addition to Grey’s Anatomy, helped to rocket the prolific producer to a global brand. Shondaland’s Netflix roster includes Bridgerton and the Rhimes-penned prequel and Inventing Anna, as well as anthology Notes on LoveDevelopment of The Residence was first announced in July 2018 as Rhimes set her original Netflix slate. Netflix and Shondaland acquired the rights to Brower’s nonfiction book.

A premiere date for The Residence has not yet been determined.

Rhimes is repped by ICM Partners. Davies is with ICM Partners and Hansen Jacobson.

INSIDE JERRY FALWELL JR.’S UNLIKELY RISE AND PRECIPITOUS FALL by Gabriel Sherman

DEADLINE

Jerry Falwell Jr. Scripted Series In The Works From Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman, Lionsgate TV & Groundswell Productions

EXCLUSIVE: A limited scripted series exploring the rise and fall of Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr is in the works.

Lionsgate Television has optioned Gabriel Sherman’s Vanity Fair article on Falwell Jr with the journalist and The Loudest Voice in the Room author adapting and exec producing his story with Michael London and Shannon Gaulding of Snowfall producer Groundswell Productions.

The article, which was published last month, tells the story of the Trump-anointing dark prince of the Christian right who was brought down by a sex scandal. He resigned in from Liberty in August 2020 after it emerged that a former Miami pool boy claimed he had been having a seven year affair with Falwell Jr.’s wife Becki and Falwell often liked to watch them have sex.

In the piece, Sherman spoke extensively to Falwell and Becki about the tumultuous events that led to his ouster, their fallout, and why he’s finally ready to admit he never had much use for his father’s church anyway.

The story will now be adapted as a limited series.

“Gabe Sherman is setting out to tell the story of a great American family business, where the business is religion.  It’s an untold story with a larger than life cast of characters amassing vast power and fortunes. Yes, there’s a sex scandal, one that consumed the life of Jerry Jr and his wife Becki, but what’s most surprising is the insight and empathy that Gabe brings to their very human struggle to be true to themselves,” said London, whose other TV credits also include SMILF and Magicians.

Sherman was represented by Hotchkiss, Daily & Associates, Management 360 and Frankfurt, Kurnit, Klein & Selz. Groundswell was represented by WME and Michael Schenkman

The Fireman by Joe Hill

Hollywood Reporter

Joe Hill’s ‘The Fireman’ in the Works as TV Series from Walden Media (Exclusive)

The project is based on the author's 2016 novel of the same name.

Joe Hill is lighting up a new TV project. The horror author is teaming with Walden Media to develop a series based on his 2016 novel, The Fireman.

In The Fireman, the United States is rocked by a plague that is highly contagious and causes those who are infected to burst into flames. Millions have caught the disease, nicknamed Dragonscale. There is no antidote. Cremation squads have popped up, roaming the streets to exterminate those they believe have Drgonscale. Amid this chaos, an infected nurse is set on a new path after a chance meeting with a mysterious man known as the Fireman.

Hill will executive produce along with Walden Media’s Frank Smith and Naia Cucukov. Hill, the son of Stephen King, has had his novel NOS4A2 adapted for AMC, while the upcoming Universal/Blumhouse film The Black Phone is adapted from his short story of the same name.

“We’re so excited to be working with celebrated author Joe Hill on The Fireman. I can’t imagine a timelier book to be developing into a series,” said Walden CEO Frank Smith in a statement. “The Fireman showcases a theme that Walden holds very dear — the idea of celebrating ordinary people who rise in extraordinary circumstances.”

The Fireman news comes as Walden is announcing several hires and promotions. Cher Harwysh departs Netflix to join Walden as svp of physical production. Jennifer Preston has joined Walden as vp of development. Julia Friley has been promoted to creative executive. Harwysh and Bosari will report to Walden CEO Smith, while Friley will report to Walden’s evp of development and production, Naia Cucukov.

The Walden-produced Finch, starring Tom Hanks, recently debuted on Apple. The company’s other credits include the Paramount film Rumble and Netflix’s The Babysitter’s Club

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton

DEADLINE

Bong Joon Ho Eyes Next Film At Warner Bros With Robert Pattinson In Talks To Star, Plan B Producing

EXCLUSIVE: After taking nearly two years to figure out his next project following his Oscar sweep in 2020 with Parasite, director Bong Joon Ho looks to have found his next film and is taking a certain Caped Crusader along for the ride. Sources tell Deadline that Bong is in talks to write and direct an untitled film based on Edward Ashton’s upcoming novel Mickey7 for Warner Bros, and that The Batman star Robert Pattinson is in talks to star. Bong will also produce the untitled film for his production company Offscreen alongside Dooho Choi for Kate Street Picture Company and Plan B.

The book will be published in in the first quarter of 2022 by St. Martin, a Macmillan imprint. While the film will be inspired by the novel, sources say that given Bong’s past experiences with adaptations, his version might ultimately be different from the novel’s. The novel’s story follows, Mickey7, is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there’s a mission that’s too dangerous—even suicidal—the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it. Peter Dodd is overseeing for the studio.

Following Parasite’s sweep of the Oscars including a Best Director and Best Picture victory, Bong has taken his time in figuring out his next steps. Towards the end of 2021, he was presented the manuscript for the unpublished book by Ashton, which immediately drew his interest. The Oscar winner became loosely attached to the project late last year and prior to the holiday break met with some of the town’s most promising stars as every A-lister in their 30s was chasing the role. It wasn’t long before Bong and execs were impressed with Pattinson following his meeting and felt he was perfect for the role, with an offer going out right before the new year.

The Warner Bros feature marks Bong’s second deal with WarnerMedia in recent months following an HBO limited series based on Parasite in the works with Bong executive producing alongside Adam McKay.

As for Pattinson, this would mark his first film he has signed onto since finishing production on the anticipated The Batman. Warner Bros has already shown how much it plans to stay in business with him by recently signing him to a first-look deal. The Batman bows on March 4.