The Black List 2017 Screenplays: Post-WWII Tale ‘Ruin’ Is No. 1 – Full Rankings
UPDATED with full list, full rankings: This year’s The Black List, the annual rundown of Hollywood’s top screenplays that haven’t been produced, has been revealed this morning. Matthew Firpo and Ryan Firpo’s script Ruin received the most votes this year for their story of a nameless ex-Nazi captain who must navigate the ruins of post-World War II Germany and atone for his crimes during the war by hunting down and killing the surviving members of his former SS death squad.
As Deadline told you in October, Gal Gadot is attached to Ruin, which Justin Kurzel is aboard to direct. Backed by Marc Butan’s MadRiver Pictures, the film has hopes of an early 2018 production start.
In second place on the Black List today was Let Her Speak, the biopic about Texas state senator Wendy Davis about her fight to protect abortion rights in part by singlehandedly staging a 13-hour filibuster in the Texas House. Sandra Bullock is attached to play Davis.
A total of 76 scripts made the cut this year.
Among the early notes this year: several writers cracked the list more than once including the team of Hayley Schore and Roshan Sethi, who scored with the abortion-rights drama Call Jane and Little Boy, about the man who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Another is Mattson Tomlin, who appears twice with Power and Brosio.
Also in the mix were screenplays that are in the works as films including Newsflash, the Ben Jacoby script that Deadline just broke today will star Seth Rogen as Walter Cronkite and his day on November 22, 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated. Another is Keeper of the Diary, Samuel Franco and Evan Kilgore’s script that is at Fox Searchlight with Kenneth Branagh attached to direct. It chronicles Otto Frank’s journey with the help of a junior editor at Doubleday Press, to find a publisher for the diary his daughter Anne wrote.
Among the notable names on this year’s list: Aquaman and Gangster Squad scribe Will Beall made the list with Lionhunters.
Last year, Elyse Hollander’s Madonna biopic of sorts Blond Ambition was the top-ranked script. Among those tied for second: the Pentagon Papers movie The Post, the Liz Hannah script that is now firmly in the Oscar buzz mix as a Steven Spielberg-directed movie starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Strep, and Dan Fogelman’s Life, Itself, to which Amazon just won rights.
Here’s this year’s list with final rankings by vote total:
68
Ruin
Matthew Firpo, Ryan Firpo
A nameless ex-Nazi captain must navigate the ruins of post-WWII Germany to atone for his crimes during the war by hunting down and killing the surviving members of his former SS death squad.
AGENCY: UTA
AGENTS: Rob Carlson, Peter Dodd
MANAGEMENT: LBI Entertainment
MANAGER: Harry Lengsfield, Sam Warren
PRODUCERS: Madriver Pictures
FINANCIERS: Madriver Pictures
42
Let Her Speak
Mario Correa
The true story of Senator Wendy Davis and her 24-hour filibuster to save 75% of abortion clinics in Texas.
AGENCY: WME
AGENTS: Jordan Cerf, Ryan Feldman, Phil Raskin
MANAGEMENT: Heroes and Villains Entertainment
MANAGER: Benjamin Blake
PRODUCERS: Fortis Films, Escape Artists, Showkat Productions
40
Daddio
Christy Hall
A passenger and her cab driver reminisce about their relationships on the way from the airport to her apartment in New York.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Dana Harris, Hylda Queally, Bill Zotti
MANAGEMENT: LBI Entertainment
MANAGER: Harry Lengsfield
32
Keeper of the Diary
Samuel Franco, Evan Kilgore
Chronicles Otto Frank’s journey, with the help of a junior editor at Doubleday Press, to find a publisher for the diary his daughter Anne wrote during the Holocaust.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENTS: David Boxerbaum, Parker Davis
MANAGEMENT: Franco: Bellevue Productions; Kilgore: Tunnel Post
MANAGER: Franco: Jeff Portnoy; Kilgore: Mia Chang
PRODUCER: Weimaraner Republic Pictures
FINANCIERS: Fox Searchlight
22
Where I End
Imran Zaidi
In a world where your life can be saved, uploaded to a computer, and restarted in the case of your untimely demise, a husband returns from the dead, suspecting his wife may have been involved in his death.
AGENCY: UTA
AGENTS: Jason Burns, Jenny Maryasis
MANAGEMENT: Grandview
MANAGER: Nate Matteson
PRODUCER: Vertigo Entertainment
20
When Lightning Strikes
Anna Klassen
The true story of 25-year-old Joanne Rowling as she weathers first loves, unexpected pregnancies, lost jobs, and depression on her journey to create Harry Potter.
AGENCY: WME
AGENTS: Lindsay Aubin, Tanya Cohen, Hannah Davis, Joanna Korshak
MANAGEMENT: Plattform
MANAGER: Bash Naran
19
Breaking News In Yuba County
Amanda Idoko
AGENCY: WME
AGENTS: Lindsay Dunn, Nick Hoagland, Andrew Mathes, Meyash Prabhu
18
Sleep Well Tonight
Freddie Skov
Behind the walls of a maximum security prison, a naive teenage inmate and a rookie correctional officer are forced into a drug-smuggling operation, while a looming conflict between rival gang members threatens to boil over.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Robb Herting, Matt Martin
MANAGEMENT: Madhouse Entertainment
MANAGER: Adam Kolbrenner, Kendrick Tan
17
The Great Nothing
Cesar Vitale
A grieving thirteen-year-old girl hires a terminally ill, acerbic philosophy professor to prevent flunking the seventh grade. What begins as a homework assignment blossoms into an unlikely friendship and a new appreciation for life that neither will forget.
AGENCY: APA
AGENTS: Debbie Deuble-Hill, Adam Perry
MANAGEMENT: Untitled Entertainment
MANAGER: Jennifer Au, Jennifer Levine
PRODUCER: Untitled Entertainment
16
Trapline
Brett Treacy, Dan Woodward
A captive boy’s lifestyle is upended when his abductor asks for his help kidnapping a second child.
MANAGEMENT: Madhouse Entertainment
MANAGER: Kendrick Tan
When In Doubt, Seduce
Allie Hagan
The true story of the early relationship between Elaine May and Mike Nichols.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Jay Baker, Sue Carls
MANAGEMENT: Management 360
MANAGER: Eryn Brown
FINANCIER: Mickey Liddell
15
The Expansion Project
Leo Sardarian
A rookie Marine gets stranded on a hostile planet during humanity’s space colonization with nothing but her exo-suit that’s running out of fusion power.
AGENCY: APA
AGENTS: Adam Perry, Chris Ridenhour
MANAGEMENT: Echo Lake Entertainment
MANAGER: Adam Riback
PRODUCER: Safehouse Pictures
FINANCIER: Warner Bros
Newsflash
Ben Jacoby
On November 22nd, 1963, Walter Cronkite puts everything on the line to get the story right as a president is killed, a frightened nation weeps, and television comes of age.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENTS: Parker Davis, Adam Weinstein
MANAGEMENT: Madhouse Entertainment
MANAGER: Adam Kolbrenner
PRODUCER: Madhouse Entertainment, Stampede Ventures
14
V.I.N.
Chiara Towne
As Alex Haley struggles to write the autobiography of Malcolm X, his editor at Playboy assigns him a new interview: George Lincoln Rockwell, head of the American Nazi Party
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Rowena Arguelles, Sue Carls
MANAGEMENT: Grandview
MANAGER: Zac Frognowski, Jeff Silver
PRODUCER: Automatik Entertainment
13
Come As You Are
Zach Baylin
An idealistic young woman’s life begins to unravel when her job in social media exposes her to the darkest corners of humanity, sending her on a violent mission to take down not just the web’s most vicious content, but its creators as well.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Sue Carls, Jon Cassir, Praveen Pandian
MANAGEMENT: Grandview
MANAGER: Zac Frognowski, Jeff Silver
PRODUCER: AZA Films
FINANCIER: Lost Lodge
Hughes
Andrew Rothschild
The story of writer-director John Hughes, whose emotionally honest high school movies helped to define American culture in the 1980s – but who, at the very height of his success, abruptly abandoned filmmaking for reasons that have never been fully explained.
AGENCY: UTA
AGENTS: Amanda Hymson
The Mother
Misha Green
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Joe Mann
PRODUCER: Misha Green, Vertigo Entertainment
FINANCIER: Netflix
One Thousand Paper Cranes
Ben Bolea
The incredible true story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl living in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped. Years later when she gets leukemia, she hears about the legend that if someone folds one thousand paper cranes, a wish will be granted. At the same time, aspiring writer Eleanor Coerr learns of Sadako’s story and becomes determined to bring her message of hope and peace to the world.
AGENCY: WME
AGENTS: Tanya Cohen, Holly Jeter
MANAGEMENT: Bellevue Productions
MANAGER: Jeff Portnoy
PRODUCER: Ian Bryce Productions
Ruthless
John Swetnam
After she is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, a former assassin must carry out one last assignment in order to ensure her daughter’s future.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENT: David Boxerbaum
MANAGEMENT: Industry Entertainment
MANAGER: Michael Botti
PRODUCER: ASAP Entertainment, Vinson Films, Weimaraner Republic Pictures
FINANCIER: Amblin Partners
12
Jellyfish Summer
Sarah Jane Inwards
A young black girl’s family in 1960s Mississippi decides to harbor two human-looking refugees who have mysteriously fallen from the sky.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENTS: Melissa Darman, Nicholas Mohebbi, Adam Weinstein
MANAGEMENT: Kaplan/Perrone
MANAGER: Alex Lerner, Ben Neumann
Mad, Bad, And Dangerous to Know
Jade Bartlett
Based on the book trilogy Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know by Chloe J. Esposito. An underdog identical twin accidentally kills her too-perfect sister only to discover murder suits her as she becomes compulsively embroiled in the life of a mafia assassin.
AGENCY: UTA
AGENT: Amanda Hymson, Greg McKnight
MANAGEMENT: Heroes and Villains Entertainment
MANAGER: Henry Huang
PRODUCER: Michael De Luca Productions
FINANCIER: Universal Pictures
Valedictorian
Cosmo Carlson
An obsessive type-A student vows to secure the valedictorian title before school ends by any means necessary, even murder.
AGENCY: WME
AGENTS: Simon Faber, Meyash Prabhu
MANAGEMENT: Lighthouse Productions
MANAGER: Jacob Epstein
11
Brosio
Mattson Tomlin
Inspired by the work of artist John Brosio. When a man begins to lose all of the people close to him in a series of increasingly absurd natural disasters, he must find out why his world has been turned upside down.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Jay Baker, Pete Stein, Ida Ziniti
MANAGEMENT: Grandview
MANAGER: Zac Frognowski
PRODUCER: Clubhouse Pictures
Power
Mattson Tomlin
When a young drug dealer is kidnapped by a man hellbent on finding his missing daughter, they must team up to get to the bottom of the mystery of the intense street drug known as Power.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Jay Baker, Pete Stein, Ida Ziniti
MANAGEMENT: Grandview
MANAGER: Zac Frognowski
PRODUCERS: Clubhouse Pictures, Grand Electric
FINANCIER: Netflix
10
Arc of Justice
Max Borenstein, Rodney Barnes
Based on the book Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age written by Kevin Boyle. Chronicles the landmark civil rights trial of Dr. Ossian Sweet after he was charged with the murder of a white man.
AGENCY: Borenstein: UTA; Barnes: Paradigm
AGENTS: Borenstein: Charles Ferraro, Keya Khayatian, Tim Phillips, Larry Salz; Barnes: Doug Fronk
MANAGEMENT: Borenstein: Anonymous Content; Barnes: Principato Young
MANAGERS: Bornestein: Bard Dorros; Barnes: Brian Dobbins, Allen Fischer
Don’t Be Evil
Gabriel Diani, Etta Devine, Evan Bates
Adapted from In the Plex by Steven Levy and I’m Feeling Lucky by Douglas Edwards. Google’s Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt struggle with their corporate motto, “Don’t Be Evil,” in the face of their meteoric rise to a multibillion-dollar valuation and a major Chinese hacking incident.
AGENCY: UTA
AGENTS: Keya Khayatian, Jordan Lonner
MANAGEMENT: LBI Entertainment
MANAGER: Harry Lengsfield
PRODUCERS: See-Saw Productions
Escape From the North Pole
Paul Laudiero, Ben Baker
A young girl partners up with an elf, a Russian explorer and a reindeer to rescue Santa Claus from a band of evil elves and save the North Pole.
AGENCY: WME
AGENTS: Ryan Draizin, Jeff Gorin, Nick Hoagland
Fubar
Brent Hyman
An inept CIA psychologist is embedded on a globe-trotting mission with the agency’s most valuable operative who suffers from an extreme case of multiple personality disorder.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENTS: Parker Davis, Chris Noriega, Chase Northington, Melissa Solomon, Adam Weinstein
Infinite
Ian Shorr
Based on the The Reincarnationist Papers written by D. Eric Maikranz. The hallucinations of a schizophrenic are revealed to be memories from past lives where he obtained talents that he still has to this day.
AGENCY: UTA
AGENTS: Emerson Davis, Charles Ferraro, David Park
MANAGEMENT: Bellevue Productions
MANAGER: John Zaozirny
PRODUCERS: Bellevue Productions, DiBonaventura Pictures
FINANCIER: Paramount
Kate
Umair Aleem
When a veteran hitwoman is mysteriously poisoned on her last assignment in Tokyo, she has 24 hours to track down her killer before she dies.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENTS: Bryan Besser, Nicholas Mohebbi
MANAGEMENT: Madhouse Entertainment
MANAGER: Adam Kolbrenner
PRODUCERS: Clubouse Pictures, 87Eleven
FINANCIER: Netflix
Key of Genius
Daniel Persitz, Devon Kliger
The true story of Derek Paravicini, a blind, severely autistic boy who needed an incredible teacher to help realize his world-class musical ability.
AGENCY: None
MANAGEMENT: None
Kill Shelter
Eric Beu, Greg Martin
A darkly comic crime thriller concerning three groups of people dealing with blackmail gone wrong.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENTS: Bryan Besser, Parker Davis, Matthew Doyle, Felicia Prinz
MANAGEMENT: Good Fear Film + Management
MANAGER: Scott Stoops
The Man From Tomorrow
Jordan Barel
The true story of visionary entrepreneur Elon Musk, who after being ousted from PayPal, guides SpaceX through it turbulent early years while simultaneously building Tesla.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENTS: David Boxerbaum
MANAGEMENT: Bellevue Productions
MANAGER: Jeff Portnoy
Moxie
Heather Quinn
To combat crime in near-future Los Angeles, the FBI creates supercops based on specific genetic sequences. To their shock, their best candidate is a vulgar stripper named Moxie.
AGENCY: Paradigm
AGENT: Gabrielle Lewis
9
Ballerina
Shay Hatten
After her family is murdered, an assassin seeks revenge on the killers.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Joe Mann, Praveen Pandian
MANAGEMENT: Lee Stobby Entertainment
MANAGER: Lee Stobby
PRODUCERS: Thunder Road Pictures
FINANCIER: Lionsgate
Escape
JD Payne, Patrick McKay
When a wrongly accused man is shipped to an Australian penal colony for five years, he quickly realizes his only chance of seeing his family again is to escape the prison with a gang of colors and survive the deadly terrain that awaits on the outside.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENTS: Zach Carlisle, Parker Davis, Adam Weinstein, Bill Weinstein
MANAGEMENT: Kaplan/Perrone
MANAGERS: Aaron Kaplan, Sean Perrone
PRODUCER: Michael De Luca Productions
Gadabout
Ross Evans
In 1951, a manufacturing company stirs up curiosity when they publish a user’s manual to a time machine called Gadabout TM-1050.
AGENCY: WME
AGENTS: Tanya Cohen, Ryan Draizin, Nick Hoagland
PRODUCER: Safehouse Pictures
FINANCIER: Columbia
Heart of the Beast
Cameron Alexander
A former Navy SEAL and his retired combat dog attempt to return to civilization after a catastrophic accident deep in the Alaskan wilderness.
MANAGEMENT: Rosa Entertainment
MANAGER: Sidney Sherman
PRODUCER: Rosa Entertainment, Stay Gold Features
FINANCIER: Stay Gold Features
Innocent Monsters
Elaina Perpelitt
A writer struggling to crack her second novel starts to lose her sense of reality as the book bleeds into her life…and her life bleeds back.
AGENCY: UTA
AGENTS: Abby Glusker, Alex Rincon
MANAGEMENT: Brillstein Entertainment Partners
MANAGER: Natalie Covault
PRODUCER: Free Association
The Kingbreaker
Andrew Bozalis, Derek Mether
A CIA operative experienced in taking down kings and installing their replacements is brought in to take down a dictator he helped install a few years prior.
MANAGEMENT: Zero Gravity
MANAGER: Eric Williams
PRODUCER: Zero Gravity
Liberation
Darby Kealey
The true story of Nancy Wake, the most decorated servicewoman in World War II, who led resistance fighters in a series of dangerous missions in Nazi-occupied France.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Jon Cassir, Rob Herting
MANAGEMENT: Mindframe Films & Management
MANAGER: Jesse Silver
PRODUCERS: Alexandre Dauman, Anne Hathaway, Adam Shulman, Mindframe
The Other Lamb
Catherine McMullen
A young female coming-of-age story set within an alternative religion.
AGENCY: RGM Artists
AGENTS: Dayne Kelly, Candice Thom
MANAGEMENT: Fictional Entity
MANAGERS: Krista Carpenter, Chris Deckard
PRODUCER: Rumble Films
This Is Jane
Daniel Loflin
Based on the book The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service by Laura Kaplan. An ordinary group of women provide 11,000 safe, illegal abortions in Chicago from 1968 through 1973.
AGENCY: ESA
AGENTS: Antoni Kaczmarek, Varun Monga, Martin To
MANAGEMENT: Heller Highwater
MANAGER: Peter Heller
PRODUCER: Heller Highwater Productions, Le Grisbi Productions
FINANCIER: Amazon Studios
Wyler
Michael Moskowitz
With Hitler laying waste to Europe and the United States refusing to answer the call to war, Jewish filmmaker William Wyler risks his career to make Mrs. Miniver, the most effective propaganda film of all time.
AGENCY: UTA
AGENT: Geoff Morley
MANAGEMENT: Lee Stobby Management
MANAGERS: Lee Stobby, Derrick Eppich
PRODUCER: Weimaraner Republic Pictures
8
The Boxer
Justine Juel Gillmer
A young Polish man escapes from a concentration camp in which he was forced by SS agents to box other Jews, travels to America to begin a successful career as a professional boxer, and reunites with the woman he lost.
AGENCY: WME
AGENT: Ryan Feldman, Blake Frostin
MANAGEMENT: Grandview
MANAGERS: Zac Frognowski, Jeff Silver
PRODUCERS: Scott Pardo, Weimaraner Republic Pictures
George
Jeremy Michael Cohen
The true story of the Reys, the husband and wife team who fell in love, created Curious George, and escaped the horrors of WWII in Europe together.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENT: David Boxerbaum
Hack
Mike Schneider
Based on actual reports, a horrifying look inside the Democratic National Committee hack and the Russian manipulation of the 2016 election.
AGENCY: UTA
AGENTS: Charles Ferraro, Geoff Morley
MANAGEMENT: Lee Stobby Entertainment
MANAGERS: Lee Stobby
PRODUCERS: Anonymous Content, Elizabeth Cantillion
Lionhunters
Will Beall
A rogue cop suffers a gunshot wound in 1987 and wakes from a coma thirty years later, where he is partnered with a mildmannered progressive detective — his son.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Jay Baker
MANAGEMENT: Management 360
MANAGERS: Darin Friedman
PRODUCER: Silver Pictures
The Saviors
Travis Betz, Kevin Hamedani
A seemingly progressive suburban husband and wife renting their garage through AirBnB become suspicious of their Muslim guests. As they investigate their visitors, they unwittingly trigger events that will forever change the course of human history.
AGENCY: APA
AGENT: Ryan Saul
MANAGEMENT: Lee Stobby Entertainment
MANAGERS: Lee Stobby
PRODUCERS: Lee Stobby Entertainment, Red Hour
Strongman
Nicholas Jacobson-Larson, Dalton Leeb
Based on the confusing, sometimes offensive, borderline-insane memories of David Prowse, the irascible Englishman behind Darth Vader’s mask.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENT: Joe Mann
MANAGEMENT: Energy Entertainment
MANAGER: Brooklyn Weaver
7
Call Jane
Hayley Schore, Roshan Sethi
Before Roe v. Wade in 1960s Chicago, a pregnant woman becomes a member of an underground group which provides abortions in a safe environment.
AGENCY: ICM Partners
AGENTS: Doug MacLaren, Niki Montazaran
MANAGEMENT: Madhouse Entertainment
MANAGER: Adam Kolbrenner
PRODUCER: The Firm
Dorothy & Alice
Justin Merz
Dorothy Gale and Alice meet in a home for those having nightmares and embark on a journey to save the imaginations of the world.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENTS: David Boxerbaum
MANAGEMENT: The Gotham Group
MANAGER: Jeremy Bell
PRODUCER: Clubhouse Pictures
FINANCIER: Netflix
Greenland
Chris Sparling
A disgraced father is determined to get his family to what, in four days, will be the only safe place on earth.
AGENCY: UTA
AGENTS: Charles Ferraro, Allan Haldeman, Carolyn Sivitz
MANAGEMENT: Kaplan/Perrone
MANAGERS: Aaron Kaplan/Sean Perrone
PRODUCER: Thunder Road Pictures
Jihotties
Molly Prather
In an effort to fund their start-up, two women catfish ISIS and get more than they bargained for when the CIA recruits them as spies.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENTS: Melissa Darman, Parker Davis, Melissa Solomon, Adam Weinstein
MANAGEMENT: Grandview
MANAGERS: Nate Matteson
The Lodge
Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala (Previous draft and original idea by Sergio Casci)
A supernatural evil haunts a woman and her stepchildren in a cabin on Christmas.
AGENCY: WME
AGENTS: Roger Green, Sarah Self
PRODUCER: FilmNation, Hammer Films
FINANCIER: FilmNation
Meat
Logan Martin
A misanthropic man notices bizarre changes in himself, his wife, and the animals inhabiting the territory around their homestead as they attempt to survive self-imposed isolation.
AGENCY: UTA
AGENTS: Charles Ferraro, Jordan Lonner
MANAGEMENT: Good Fear Film + Management
MANAGERS: Scott Stoops, Jake Wagner
PRODUCER: Assemble Media
The Poison Squad
Dreux Moreland, Joey DePaolo
Based on the true story of Harvey Wiley, an eccentric chemist who conducted the first experiment on human tolerance to poison, which catalyzed a movement resulting in the founding of the Food and Drug Administration.
MANAGEMENT: Anonymous Content
MANAGERS: Amar Hansen, Jacob Perlin, Charlie Scully
The Prospect
Ben Epstein
Michael Jordan uses a year as a baseball prospect to find himself after his father’s death.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Joe Mann, Pete Stein
MANAGEMENT: Think Tank Management and Production
MANAGER: Tom Drumm
PRODUCERS: Mad Chance Productions, Overbrook Entertainment
Rodney & Sheryl
Ian MacAllister-McDonald
Based on the unbelievable true story of serial killer Rodney Alcala–detectives have estimated Alcala’s body count to be north of 130 victims. Despite being in the midst of a killing spree, Alcala appeared on won a date with one of the contestants on The Dating Game.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Rob Herting, Ida Ziniti
MANAGEMENT: Industry Entertainment
MANAGERS: Stephen Crawford, Andrew Deane
PRODUCER: Platinum Dunes
Social Justice Warrior
Emma Fletcher, Brett Weiner
When a liberal, white, college sophomore who knows exactly how to fix society accuses her equally liberal professor of hate speech, it throws the campus and both their lives into chaos as they wage war over the right way to stop discrimination.
AGENCY: Fletcher: UTA; Weiner: Paradigm
AGENTS: Fletcher: Greg Iserson, Carolyn Sivitz; Weiner: Chris Smith
MANAGEMENT: Fletcher: Writ Large; Weiner: The Gotham Group
MANAGERS: Fletcher: Britton Rizzio, Courtney Conwell, Greg Shephard; Weiner: Peter McHugh
The Thing About Jellyfish
Molly Smith Metzler
After her best friend drowns, a seventh-grade girl is convinced the true cause of the tragedy was a rare jellyfish sting. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory.
AGENCY: WME
AGENT: Sarah Self
MANAGEMENT: Grandview
MANAGERS: Meredith Bajana, Jeff Silver
PRODUCERS: Made Up Stories, MWM
6
All My Life
Todd Rosenberg
After discovering the groom has liver cancer, a couple move their wedding date up and get married before he passes away.
AGENCY: Gersh
AGENT: Eric Garfinkel
MANAGEMENT: Kaplan/Perrone
MANAGER: Alex Lerner
PRODUCER: Broken Road Productions
FINANCIER: Universal
American Tabloid
Adam Morrison
The true story of Generoso Pope, Jr., who with the help of the New York mob turned a small, local paper into the phenomenon that is The National Enquirer, laying the foundation for tabloid journalism as we know it today.
AGENCY: WME
AGENTS: Philip D’Amecourt, Solco Schuit
MANAGEMENT: Plattform
MANAGER: Jeremy Platt
PRODUCER: Automatik Entertainment
Bios
Craig Luck, Ivor Powell
In a post-apocalyptic world, a man spends his dying days with the robot he created to look after his dog.
PRODUCERS: ImageMovers, Misher Films
FINANCIER: Amblin Partners
Cancer Inc.
Marc Macaluso
The true story of the corporatization of cancer in the United States told through the eyes of a British Wall Street analyst who uncovers the corruption behind the approval of a drug intended to treat prostate cancer.
AGENCY: WME
AGENTS: Tanya Cohen, Mike Fera
MANAGEMENT: Lighthouse
MANAGER: Jacob Epstein
PRODUCER: Kevin Turen
The Fifth Nixon
Sharon Hoffman
Watergate as experienced through the eyes of President Richard Nixon’s personal secretary Rose Mary Woods.
AGENCY: WME
AGENT: Tanya Cohen
PRODUCER: Groundswell Productions
The Grownup
Natalie Krinsky
Based on the short story “The Grownup” by Gillian Flynn. A con woman who pretends to read auras is hired by a wealthy woman to banish an evil spirit from her house, but it is soon clear that the fake exorcist is in over her head.
AGENCY: WME
AGENTS: Adriana Alberghetti, Hannah Davis, Jeff Gorin
MANAGEMENT: The Gotham Group
MANAGER: Jeremy Bell
PRODUCERS: Gillian Flynn, Mike De Luca Productions
FINANCIER: Universal
Green Rush
Matt Tente
A paroled ex-con agrees to help his daughter steal medical marijuana tax dollars from City Hall.
MANAGEMENT: Bellevue Productions
MANAGER: Jeff Portnoy
PRODUCERS: New Republic Pictures, Will Packer Productions
Health and Wellness
Joe Epstein
A sociopath obsessed with self-improvement claws her way to the top of the fitness world, leaving a trail of broken bodies in her wake.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: Darian Lanzetta, Ida Ziniti
MANAGEMENT: Ken Gross Management
MANAGER: Ken Gross
PRODUCERS: Pascal Pictures
FINANCIER: TriStar
Little Boy
Hayley Schore, Roshan Sethi
The true story of the man who dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima and his unexpected journey back to ground zero.
AGENCY: ICM Partners
AGENT: Niki Montazaran
MANAGEMENT: Madhouse Entertainment
MANAGER: Adam Kolbrenner
On
Ryan Jennifer Jones
In a slightly futuristic/hyper-efficient Manhattan, a newly-single book editor purchases a customizable sex android to assuage her broken heart. When her toy’s closed feedback loop starts to alter her personality, she must reevaluate the merits of a perfectly compatible partner.
AGENCY: Paradigm
AGENTS: Valarie Phillips, Ellie Shiff
MANAGEMENT: Link Entertainment
MANAGER: David Katsman
PRODUCER: Appian Way
Panopticon
Emily Jerome
A look at the criminal justice and private prison system, told from the perspectives of a new inmate, a correctional officer, and a Wall Street hotshot.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENTS: David Kopple, Luke Rodgers, Carin Sage
MANAGEMENT: Kaplan/Perrone
MANAGERS: Aaron Kaplan, Hannah Ozer
Queen Elizabeth
Shatara Michelle Ford
An uptight, high-achieving, black post-grad becomes (increasingly) irreverent and (slightly) destructive when she realizes that the life she’s living is not the life she wants.
AGENCY: Paradigm
AGENT: Whine Del Rosario
MANAGEMENT: Lee Stobby Entertainment
MANAGER: Lee Stobby
Skyward
Joe Ballarini
The true story of two families who attempt to escape over the Berlin Wall using a hot air balloon in 1979.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENT: David Boxerbaum
PRODUCER: Sunswept Entertainment
The Sleepover
Sarah Rothschild
When bad guys break into their home and kidnap their parents, siblings Kevin and Clancy are forced to confront the fact that there may be way more to their stay-at-home mom than meets the eye.
AGENCY: Verve
AGENTS: Parker Davis, Pamela Goldstein, Chase Northington, Bill Weinstein
The White Devils
Leon Hendrix III
Cassius raises his sons, Malcolm and Mandela, isolated and alone in the woods. They have never met another person in their entire lives. The boys have learned to survive and protect their fragile family at all cost. When they find a mysterious wounded white girl, June, alone and lost in their woods, prejudice, lies and love set them on a collision course with the real world that puts all their lives at risk.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENT: Praveen Pandian
MANAGEMENT: Grandview
MANAGER: Zac Frognowski
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