Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Robert Kenner's doc 'Merchants of Doubt' Goes to Sony Pictures Classics

The film about pundits-for-hire will be released by the end of the year.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired worldwide rights to Robert Kenner’s documentary Merchants of Doubt from Participant Media and Omidyar Network, and plans to release it by the end of the year.

Inspired by the book of the same name by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, the doc takes a look at pundits-for-hire who present themselves as scientific authorities as they speak about topics like toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and climate change.

Kenner, who also produced and directed the 2008 doc Food, Inc., produced the new film with Melissa Robledo and executive producers Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann of Participant Media and Pierre Omidyar of Omidyar Network. It was co-produced by Brian Pearle, Taki Oldham, Dylan Nelson and Youtchi von Lintel.

"I was thrilled that Participant Media and The Omidyar Network were ready to back a comedy about science denial and that Sony Pictures Classics will be taking this film out into the world,” Kenner said. “With Merchants of Doubt, I saw a chance to show audiences a world they hadn’t seen before—a chance to lift the curtain and expose how these messages are crafted and sold to the public."

"Merchants of Doubt is that rare triple threat: well made, entertaining and destined to immediately become part of this volatile cultural debate.  We look forward to bringing this outstanding film to the world,” added Sony Pictures Classics.

Jeff Ivers negotiated the deal for the film on behalf of Participant Media with Sony Pictures Classics.

The Wonder of All Things by Jason Mott

DEADLINE: Lionsgate Buys Jason Mott Novel ‘The Wonder Of All Things’

Lionsgate has acquired screen rights to The Wonder Of All Things, the sophomore novel by Jason Mott, whose debut The Returned is the basis for the ABC seriesResurrection. David Heyman’s Heyday Films will produce with John Fischer and Jeffrey Clifford.

The logline: When a pilot loses control of his plane during an air show and crashes into the stands, two 13-year-old best friends, Wash and Ava, are trapped beneath the rubble. They are found by rescuers, but Wash is seriously injured, a chunk of steel protruding from his belly. Ava tries to help him by pulling free the metal, but blood rushes out; he’s dying. She panics and puts her hands on the wound, crying. When she pulls her hands away, the wound is gone, healed without a scar. Rescuers captured the miracle on their cell phone cameras. It goes up on YouTube, and she becomes the center of attention from media, scientists, and religious leaders. Like Phenomenon and The Green Mile, the film will be a collision between real-world reaction and supernatural events that are not easily explained. Lionsgate’s Jeyun Choi and Erik Feig reeled in the book in a deal brokered by Sean Daily at Hotchkiss And Associates on behalf of Michelle Brower at Folio Literary Management.

Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan

DEADLINE:  Lionsgate Acquires ‘Down A Dark Hall’ From ‘Twilight’ Producers & Temple Hill

Lionsgate has acquired rights to Down A Dark Hall based on the 1974 YA bestseller from Lois Duncan (I Know What You Did Last Summer) with Rodrigo Cortés attached to direct. Screenwriter Michael Goldbach wrote the original adaptation for the screen, and Chris Sparling (Sea of Trees, Buried) has come aboard to also write on the film.Twilight author Stephenie Meyer and Meghan Hibbett will produce via their Fickle Fish Films along with Temple Hill Entertainment’s Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen. Meyer optioned the book last year and brought on Goldbach to write the adaptation.

The supernatural suspense novel follows Kit Gordy, the newest student at the exclusive Blackwood Boarding School. It is the opportunity of a lifetime, but Kit quickly realizes something strange is happening behind its walls as she confronts the darkly seductive powers of Blackwood’s headmistress and comes face to face with the supernatural powers that could make her great or destroy her.

Fickle Fish Films recently produced The Host, an adaptation of Meyer’s novel starring Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, Jake Abel, Max Irons and William Hurt, directed by Andrew Niccol, which released March 2013 from Open Road Films as well as the film adaptation of the NY Times best-selling author Shannon Hale’sAustenland, directed by Jerusha Hess and starring Keri Russell, Bret McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, JJ Feild and Jane Seymour. Meyer previously produced both parts of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn which were distributed by Lionsgate’s Summit Entertainment label. The five films of The Twilight Saga grossed more than $3.3 billion at the worldwide box office.

Temple Hill Entertainment most recently produced Fox’s mega box office hit The Fault In Our Stars, starring Shailene Woodley and based on the John Green bestseller. Temple Hill also produced the Twilight Saga film series. Other credits include Dear John, Safe Haven, Everything Must Go and The Nativity Story.

Erik Feig, Co-President of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, Gillian Bohrer, Lionsgate’s EVP of Production & Development, and James Myers, Creative Executive at Lionsgate, are overseeing the project on behalf of the studio. Robert Melnik, Lionsgate’s Executive Vice President of Business Affairs, negotiated the deal on behalf of the studio.

Fickle Fish, Temple Hill, Sparling, Goldbach and Cortés are represented by UTA. The book was represented by Jody Hotchkiss & Associates.

Dinotrux by Chris Gall

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Netflix Preps 'Dinotrux' Kids Series from DreamWorks Animation

The dinosaur series, based on Chris Gall's award-winning book series, will roll out in the spring of 2015.

Netflix is bulking up on its kids offerings.

The streaming service is set to launch a new original series, Dinotrux, in the spring of 2015. The kids entry, based on Chris Gall's award-winning book series, will feature hybrid dinosaur-construction characters who are set to build and battle over three seasons. It marks the latest from DreamWorks Animation, which inked a landmark deal with Netflix for 300 hours of programming inspired by DWA characters in early 2013.

Dinotrux will follow the adventures of two unlikely best friends as they navigate the mechanical domain ruled by creatures including Tyrannosaurus Trux, Scraptors and Tow-a-constrictors. The series will join DreamWorks' Turbo Fast, which launched in 2013, as well as forthcoming efforts King Julien, Puss in Boots, Veggie Tales in the House and DreamWorks Dragons.

"This is a property that creates a new world with stunning visuals and fantastic action combined with great characters and comedy. In Dinotrux, the biggest guy and the smallest creature become best friends and through their unique partnership evolve their primitive world—a theme that we think will resonate with kids," said Margie Cohn, TV head at DreamWorks Animation in a statement announcing the news Friday.

Added Netflix originals vp Cindy Holland: "DreamWorks has a proven track record of creating beloved characters, and we're excited to be able to bring the Dinotrux friends to our members. We know kids and families love discovering new series to watch together and we're pleased to continue to expand our show line-up from DreamWorks."

Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky

Television rights to Jacob Tomsky's HEADS IN BEDS, about a life spent (and misspent) in the hotel industry, to Warner Bros. Television with 3 Arts Entertainment (PARKS AND RECREATION, LOUIE, SILICON VALLEY) producing, by Sean Daily at Hotchkiss and Associates on behalf of Farley Chase at Chase Literary Agency.

Freeheld by Cynthia Wade

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Julianne Moore, Zach Galifianakis to Star in Drama 'Freeheld' (Exclusive)

The pair join Ellen Page in the Peter Sollett-helmed film based on the 2007 Oscar-winning documentary short of the same name.

Julianne Moore is attached to star opposite Ellen Page in the indie drama Freeheld, and Zach Galifianakis is poised to tackle a supporting role in the indie drama.

Based on the 2007 Academy Award-winning documentary short of the same name, the film chronicles the true story of the late Laurel Hester (Moore), a New Jersey police detective whose world was shattered when she became terminally ill and government officials prevented her from assigning her pension benefits to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree (Page).

Laurel's conservative detective partner Dane Wells was shocked when he learned of her sexual orientation, but he became the leader in the fight for the same-sex couple's rights. That role has yet to be cast.

Galifianakis is onboard to play Garden State Equality activist Steven Goldstein.

Peter Sollett (Raising Victor Vargas, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist) will direct from a screenplay by Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia, The Painted Veil). The filmmakers are eyeing a summer start date.

Stacey Sher and Michael Shamberg are producing alongside Kelly Bush Novak of Vie Entertainment, Jim Stern of Endgame Entertainment, Jack Selby of Incognito Pictures and Cynthia Wade, who directed the 2007 documentary short.

Moore, who can next be seen opposite Liam Neeson in the action film Non-Stop and David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars, is currently filming The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 2. She is about to begin production on a big-screen adaptation of Lisa Genova's novel Still Alice. The actress also is attached to star opposite Greta Gerwig in the Rebecca Miller-helmed Maggie's Plan.

The Hangover's Galifianakis has two films in the can: Muppets Most Wanted and the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu comedy Birdman. He also is working on an FX pilot that he created and will star in that is being co-written by Louis C.K.

Moore and Galifianakis are repped by CAA. Moore is additionally handled by Management 360's Evelyn O'Neill. Galifianakis also is handled by Brillstein Entertainment and attorney Jared Levine. Sollett is repped by CAA, Oasis and Morris Yorn.

My Ex-Gay Friend by Benoit Denizet-Lewis

DEADLINE: Justin Kelly Teams With James Franco & Gus Van Sant For ‘Michael’

By Mike Fleming Jr.

Justin Kelly, a protege of Gus Van Sant, has set a summer start date for Michael, a film that Kelly will direct that will star James Franco. The pic is based on the Benoit Denizet-Lewis article “My Ex-Gay Friend,” published in The New York Times Magazine. While there have been some gay empowerment-themed films cropping up (Van Sant and Franco did Milktogether), this one takes the opposite track. Franco is playing the title character, a gay activist who, after enduring years of taunts and struggle, becomes an anti-gay Christian pastor. Kelly, who’s repped by Gotham Group and attorney Peter Nichols, wrote the script. Benoit is repped by Zachary, Shuster, Harmsworth and Hotchkiss & Associates.  Franco, Vince Jolivette, Scott Reed, Ron Singer and Joel Michaely will produce, while Van Sant is exec producer.

Fakebook by Dave Cicirelli

VARIETY: ‘Fakebook’ Movie Gets Real at Ineffable Pictures (EXCLUSIVE)

Cicirelli's book chronicles double life

By Dave McNary

Ineffable Pictures has logged on to “Fakebook: A True Story Based on Actual Lies,” picking up feature film rights to the recent non-fiction book by Dave Cicirelli.

Published by Sourcebooks this year, “Fakebook” is Cicirelli’s account of his mid-20s decision in 2009 to reinvent himself, posting a bogus note on Facebook announcing he is quitting his job, dropping everything and walking west. Only his parents and two close friends knew that the post was a hoax so a large portion of Cicirelli’s Facebook friends followed him as he began living a life of made up episodes, supported by photoshopped documentary evidence and accompanied by fictional girlfriend Amish Kate.

The memoir chronicles fake Facebook adventures and their impact on Cicirelli’s real life as he began to feel jealous of his fictional alter ego and faced the increasing difficulty of maintaining his charade of a double life — one in the real world and one in cyberspace.

Ineffable founder Raffi Kryszek said, “Aside from the amazing true story chronicled in “Fakebook,” we were especially intrigued by Cicirelli’s sharp cultural insight. This is the first book we’ve seen that honestly and—often hilariously—manages to deal with the increasingly pervasive impact social media has on our everyday relationships.”

Ineffable’s development slate of adaptations includes “The Repeat Year” by Andrea Lochen, “The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime” by Declan Hill and “Excuse Us While We Kiss The Sky” written by Matthew Power, which is being adapted into an action thriller by Ian Shorr.

Ineffable has also optioned Lisa Desrochers’ three book series “Personal Demons”; Colleen Houck’s “Tiger’s Curse,” which is being adapted by Julie Plec for Paramount; and Heather Swain’s forthcoming novel “The Last Apple” with Lane Shefter Bishop.

The deal for “Fakebook” was done by Sean Daily at Hotchkiss and Associates on behalf of Stephen Barr at Writers House.

If Kennedy Lived by Jeff Greenfield

Television rights to Jeff Greenfield's IF KENNEDY LIVED, an alternative history about what might have happened in the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam and others issues of the day, if Kennedy survived in Dallas and served two terms as president complete with revelations about his personal life, to Alcon Entertainment for Erwin Stoff (UNBROKEN, WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, THE BLIND SIDE) and Tom Lassally to produce, by Hotchkiss and Associates on behalf of Sterling Lord Literistic.

Enemies Within by Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman

CAPITAL NEW YORK: 20th Century Fox TV options book about clandestine NYPD counterterror operations

20th Century Fox Television has bought the rights to a forthcoming book by Associated Press reporters Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman about clandestine counterterrorism operations conducted by the New York City Police Department, Capital has learned.

The book, Enemies Within: Inside the NYPD's Secret Spying Unit and bin Laden's Final Plot Against America, is based on a series of articles the duo wrote for the Associated Press beginning two years ago.

Attached to the 20th Century Fox Television project are producers Erwin Stoff and Tom Lassally of 3 Arts Entertainment. Stoff was executive producer of The Devil's Advocate, The Matrix and, more recently, 47 Ronin.Lassally was executive producer of "American Candidate" (a TV series) and the forthcoming movie Edge of Tomorrow.

The book will hit shelves Sept. 3 and is published by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. It will include reporting based on hundreds of secret NYPD documents that Apuzzo and Goldman obtained after winning the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting last year for their initial series of AP reports.

Which means that there is a lot more to come from these two.

"We used this new material to write the book," Goldman told Capital. "We’ll be making many of the documents public."

The book is sure to be controversial, as the original article series was. In particular, the News Corp-owned New York Post has been critical of the Associated Press' reporting on the NYPD. Though the Postand 20st Century Fox are now owned by separate companies, both are controlled by Rupert Murdoch.

Goldman declined to specify how much the book sold for but said "there were multiple offers." The deal was inked in September 2012.

New York magazine will publish an excerpt in its next issue, which lands on Monday.

"After 9/11, police commissioner Ray Kelly called on former senior CIA officer David Cohen, who along with then current CIA officer Larry Sanchez, created the city’s own CIA," reads a teaser circulated by the magazine's publicists this afternoon. "They believed that to catch the few, the NYPD would spy on many. Their Demographics Unit ended up a failure, both as a matter of police work, but more importantly, of the civil liberties of New Yorkers."

Screw Everyone by Ophira Eisenberg

VARIETY: NPR Host to ‘Screw Everyone’ With New Movie (EXCLUSIVE)

By Dave McNary

Ophira Eisenberg’s comic memoir “Screw Everyone: How I Slept My Way to Monogamy” is headed for the big screen with Zucker Prods. acquiring feature rights.

Eisenberg, host of the weekly National Public Radio and WNYC game show “Ask Me Another,” recounted more than a decade and a half of relationships in “Screw Everyone” with an attitude of saying “yes” to nearly everything before getting married. The tome starts in the seventh grade in Calgary, Canada, with her first boyfriend and first kiss.

“If we were talking about food, I’d be considered ‘adventurous,’ in wine circles, ‘unpretentious,’ and in dating terms, ‘a slut,’” she said in the introduction.

Janet Zucker told Variety that she’s started meeting with writers about the adaptation. She decided to seek the rights to “Screw Everyone” while reading the book during production of a TV version of Hallmark Channel’s “Dear Dumb Diary,” on which she’s an exec producer.

“Those are two pretty different projects but we tend to have a pretty eclectic slate,” she added, noting that recent Zucker Co. feature projects include romantic comedy “Friends with Benefits,” political thriller “Fair Game” and P.J. Hogan’s comedy-drama “Mental.”

“I think Ophira is really funny and her book says a lot about how women are dealing with relationships now,” Zucker added.

CyberStorm by Matthew Mather

Fox Acquires Self Published Sci-Fi Novel ‘CyberStorm’ For Chernin Entertainment

By MIKE FLEMING JR

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Fox has acquired CyberStorm, a self-published book by Matthew Mather that I’ve been told Chernin Entertainment will take on as producer. Described as a frighteningly realistic depiction of what would happen in the event of a global digital meltdown from an organized attack, the book follows a New York man and his family as they try and survive the crash isolated in Manhattan with millions of scared and confused people around him. The original e-book has caught on fast since it came out in March, and is now up there with the likes of the World War Z, Ender’s Game and Game Of Thrones e-books in Amazon sci-fi sales. It’s moving about 1500 copies a day. Mather, a cybersecurity expert and author who started out his career working at the McGill Center for Intelligent Machines, is now exploring a traditional print publishing deal after inking rights pacts for Turkey, Spain and Germany. The Fox deal was made by Sean Daily at Hotchkiss and Associates with Paul Lucas at Janklow & Nesbit Associates.

Fox finances Chernin Entertainment-released films and they are currently basking in the success of their most recent tie-up The Heat, the Melissa McCarthy-Sandra Bullock buddy comedy that opened June 28 to a cool $40 million. A sequel to that one is already in the works.

Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King

DEADLINE: Lionsgate Acquires Pulitzer Prize Winner ‘Devil In The Grove;’ Seminal Civil Rights Case For Thurgood Marshall

By MIKE FLEMING

Lionsgate has acquired screen rights to Devil In The Grove: Thurgood Marshall, The Groveland Boys, And The Dawn Of A New America, the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Gilbert King about the effort of Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP’s legal team to save the lives of four black men falsely accused of raping a white woman in Florida in 1949. Adam Cooper & Bill Collage will write the script. Allison Shearmur is producing. The project is high priority at Lionsgate where production president Erik Feig and production and development director Jeyun Choi are overseeing it.

Devil In The Grove will yield a great role for a fortyish African-American actor to play the iconic Marshall, in a case fought to the Supreme Court before he made history with Brown Vs. Board of Education, which finally eliminated segregation in public schools. The scribes are also planning a strong role of Mabel Norris Reese, a journalist who covered the case. Initially outraged by the rape charges, she wrote honest stories as the evidence made it clear the “victim” had invented the allegations.

The film has overtones of To Kill A Mockingbird, in a story emblematic of the racism present in the Deep South during the time when Jim Crow labor laws made possible places like the segregated Groveland, Florida. Empowered by cheap labor, that town became a thriving citrus empire, with a racist sheriff ruling with an iron hand. In 1949, a quartet of young black men called The Groveland Four were accused of rape by a 17-year-old girl. The Klan tore through Groveland, sending black men fleeing to the swamps as they burned homes, determined to find the four and lynch them. One was shot down, and the others beaten badly into confessing. Despite the powderkeg atmosphere, Groveland became an establishing ground for Marshall, who despite the danger and his vital status in the growing civil rights movement, got heavily involved after one of his NAACP associates was murdered by the Klan. Even though the evidence was flimsy, one of the men was sentenced to life and the other two were given death sentences. Marshall fought that all the way to the Supreme Court. When a new trial was ordered, the sheriff, McCall, shot both of the men as they were being transported. He claimed the handcuffed men attacked him, but the lone survivor said he simply blasted away. The survivor was eventually exonerated.

The writers, whose Moses script Exodus will be the next film that Ridley Scott will direct with Christian Bale starring at Fox, found the book in manuscript form, and they couldn’t get a rise out of the town. Then, just as it was being relegated to the remainder pile, Devil In The Grove shockingly won the Pulitzer and the author’s film agent, Sean Daily at Hotchkiss And Associates (he sold it for lit agent Farley Chase) told the scribes that there was interest. Some 18 months after they first shopped the book, they went to town on it again. “In a way, Thurgood Marshall seems a rightful companion to Moses and George Washington [their script on him, called The General, has Darren Aronofsky attached], because Marshall really was a founding father of a new America,” Cooper said. They feel it is in good hands with Lionsgate and with Shearmur, who has been a strong influence on book adaptations like The Hunger Games. Cooper & Collage are repped by WME and Jeff Frankel.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King's DEVIL IN THE GROVE, recounting Thurgood Marshall's heroic defense of four young black men accused of raping a white girl in 1949 Florida, to Lionsgate/Summit (THE HURT LOCKER, THE LINCOLN LAWYER) with Allison Shearmur Productions producing, by Sean Daily of Hotchkiss and Associates on behalf of Farley Chase at Chase Literary Agency.

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Controversial 'The Book of Negroes' Novel Getting Miniseries

BET and CBC will start shooting the Clement Virgo-directed project -- previously planned as a movie -- in South Africa in the fall.

BANFF, Alberta – The controversial Lawrence Hill novel The Book of Negroes will be adapted into a miniseries for BET in the U.S. and the CBC in Canada, after earlier plans for a big-screen adaptation.

Canadian producer Conquering Lion Pictures initially optioned the film rights to the award-winning novel in 2009, with Clement Virgo on board to direct a movie as an international co-production.

But now Conquering Lion Pictures and Out of Africa Entertainment will turn the 2007 novel about a young girl taken from Africa and forced into slavery on a South Carolina plantation before she escapes to freedom in Nova Scotia into a miniseries.

Entertainment One will handle worldwide sales.

"We are excited to partner with Conquering Lion Pictures, Out of Africa Entertainment and Entertainment One on this historic project and to bring the acclaimed Book of Negroesto life for the BET audience,” said Loretha Jones, president of original programming at BET Networks.

Production will start in South Africa in the fall, with The Book of Negroes structured as a Canada-South African co-production.

Conquering Lion Pictures initially aimed to structure the intended movie adaptation likely as a Canadian-European co-production.

The miniseries is written by Virgo, with Hill getting a co-writer credit.

The executive producer credits will be shared by Damon D'Oliveira, Virgo, Lance Samuels, Daniel Iron, Carrie Stein and Bill Niven.

Canadian writer Hill’s novel, while selected by Oprah magazine in 2010 as a top summer read, has stirred controversy.

The Dutch group Federation for Honour and Reparation of Slavery in Surinam two years ago torched the cover of the novel, rather than the entire book, to protest what they claimed is the offensive use of the word “negro” in the book title.

Hill’s novel was published in the Canadian and U.K. markets with the title The Book of Negroes.

But historical sensitivity led Hill’s novel to be published in the U.S. market as Somebody Know My Name.

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD DAILY: Paramount Acquires Joelle Charbonneau Novel ‘The Testing’

By MIKE FLEMING JR

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures has acquired The Testing, a novel by Joelle Charbonneau. Deal got made last night, with no producer attached, and it was Peter Kang’s first acquisition since moving to the studio from Fox. The book will be published this week and already has been named a #1 Indie Next 2013 Summer YA Pick and one of the Top 10 Young Adult Books for Summer by USA Today. Foreign publishing rights have already been sold in the UK, France, Israel, Korea, The Netherlands, Turkey, and Germany. The logline: In the rebuilding of the United States after natural disasters and biological war, the best and brightest high school graduates are put through a series of tests, both physical and mental, to determine whether they have what it takes to become the leaders of future generations.The tale focuses on 16-year-old Malencia Vale, and her hometown is excited because she might be chosen for The Testing, a United Commonwealth program that seeks out possible leaders of the slowly revitalizing postwar civilization. When she is chosen, her father finally tells her about his own nightmarish half-memories of The Testing. Armed with his dire warnings, she bravely heads off to Tosu City, far away from friends and family, where danger, romance and sheer terror awaits. Hey, this sounds like it’s got elements of The Hunger Games (which Paramount let go of) and Ender’s Game. Hollywood is running out of franchises, and this certainly seems to have that youth demographic potential. Deal was brokered by Hotchkiss And Associates’ Sean Daily with Stacia Decker at the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Warner Bros. Picks Up Rights to 'Calling Me Home'

Roy Lee and his Vertigo Entertainment are attached to produce the adaptation of Julie Kibler's book, which is described as a cross between "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Help."

Warner Bros. has picked up the rights to Julie Kibler's book Calling Me Home for an adaptation to be produced by Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment.

The book is described as a cross between Driving Miss Daisy and The Help, and Warners' development is noteworthy in two ways.

It signals the studio's newfound willingness to seek out the adult audience that made Argo a best picture Oscar winner and financial hit and goes against its usual mode of developing big spectacle tentpoles.

It is also a new path for Lee, the producer who initially made his name with successful remakes of Asian thrillers and now produces larger-canvas genre fare such as the Oldboy remake and the upcoming Lego animated movie. (He also produced the 2006 romantic time-travel drama The Lake House, starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves.)

Calling Me Home, which is Kibler's debut novel and inspired by events in her family, revolves around the relationship between an 89-year-old woman named Isabelle McAllister and her hairdresser, a black single mother named Dorrie Curtis.

McAllister enlists Curtis' help to drive her from her home in Arlington, Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati. Along the way, McAllister reveals the secrets of her past, in which she fell in love with the black son of her family's housekeeper to tragic consequences. The book alternates between the present and the late 1930s.

Home was released Feb. 12, garnering strong reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. The weepie is proving to be a reader favorite on book sites like GoodReads, and many are pegging it as this year's Help, which became a word-of-mouth sensation and eventual best picture Oscar nominee.

The studio and Lee now will seek out a writer to adapt the material.

Kibler is repped by Jody Hotchkiss of Hotchkiss and Associates and the Elizabeth Weed Agency.

Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander

DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD DAILY: Universal Acquires ‘Proof Of Heaven’; Bestseller About Dying Surgeon Who Glimpses Afterlife

By MIKE FLEMING JR

Universal Pictures has won a bidding battle for movie rights to Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey Into The Afterlife, the runaway bestselling non-fiction book about a man who glimpsed the afterlife during a near death health crisis. Mary Parent and Cale Boyter will produce through Disruption Entertainment. Deal was six figures and three studios chased the book.

The film will be written by Ryan Knighton, an interesting story in his own right. He first made a name for himself adapting his own memoir, Cockeyed, about his 15-year gradual descent into blindness. He's currently adapting the Peter Spiegelman novel Thick As Thievesfor Fox 2000, Imagine and Film 360.

Proof of Heaven has topped The New York Times bestseller list since it was published in late October by Simon & Schuster. It is a first person account by Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon who taught at Harvard Medical School and other universities, embracing science over faith. Despite being a Christian, he did not embrace religious theories of the afterlife. That was until he contracted a rare bacterial meningitis that penetrated his cerebro-spinal fluid and attacked his brain. He lay near death, comatose for seven days in 2008. He awoke with a clear recollection of what he described as a journey to heaven.

Several studios went after a book for its huge appeal to a faith-based readership. Studios have tried to cover this subject matter-the 1983 film Brainstorm comes to mind-but this will be presented as a true account. The book has been published in 30 countries, with more coming.

Parent just produced the Guillermo del Toro-produced Pacific Rim for Warner Bros and Legendary, and the Darren Aronofsky-directed Noah for Paramount and New Regency. She recently boarded Legendary's Godzilla as producer.

Hotchkiss and Associates brokered the book deal for the Ross Yoon Agency and attorney Tom Collier, and Knighton is repped by Hotchkiss and Associates, Mosaic and attorney Lev Ginsberg. Uni exec Kristin Lowe will oversee the project.

The Genius Files by Dan Gutman

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Warner Bros. Adaptation of Children's Book 'Genius Files' Finds Writer

Commercial director Robert Rugan will pen a script based on Dan Gutman's book with Mike Karz producing.

Robert Rugan, a rising star in the commercial directing world, has been hired to pen the script for Warner Bros.' adaptation of The Genius Files.

Gulfstream Pictures' Mike Karz (New Year's Eve) is producing the project, which is based on the book series by Dan Gutman.

The first tome, published in January 2011, revolves around 12-year-old twins who are recruited to be part of a secret government experiment that uses young geniuses to solve complex national problems. The pair must fight for their lives while on a road trip with their family.

The book was "discovered" when Warner Bros. Pictures president Greg Silverman was shown a copy by his son Cooper and his friend, Jed Siegel, both fourth graders at Oakwood School.

Rugan has done commercial spots for companies ranging from HBO and IFC to Visa and Nikon; his envelope-pushing comedic spot for Durex won two CLIO Awards and the CyberLion at Cannes.

But even though he's receiving attention for his reel, Rugan isn't directing Genius Files, he's writing it. And he got the gig based on his original spec Beauregard Thibodeaux and the Curse of the Rougarou, to which he is attached as director.

He is repped by Verve, Kaplan/Perrone and attorney David Matloff.

Sweet Hell on Fire by Sara Lunsford

TV rights to Sara Lunsford's SWEET HELL ON FIRE: A MEMOIR OF THE PRISON I WORKED IN AND THE PRISON I LIVED IN, the true story of the author's time as a corrections officer in a maximum security prison for men, to CBS Television Studios with Kennedy/Marshall (LINCOLN, THE BOURNE LEGACY) producing, by Sean Daily at Hotchkiss and Associates on behalf of Deidre Knight at The Knight Agency.

The Returned by Jason Mott

Deadline Hollywood Daily: ABC Developing High-Concept Drama From Brad Pitt’s Plan B & Brillstein Entertainment

In a late buy, ABC has put in development The Returned, a serialized drama produced by Brad Pitt's Plan B, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and ABC Studios. Written by Aaron Zelman (AMC's The Killing), The Returned is based on the debut novel by Jason Mott, which is slated to be published next September by Mira Books. The rights to the book sparked a bidding war among several production companies and studios. Brillstein and Plan B were able to land the property in their first teaming together, and the project was taken to ABC Studios where Brillstein is based. Executive producing alongside Zelman are JoAnn Alfano and Jon Liebman from BEP and Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner from Plan B.

The Returned is one of several projects BEP has set up this season, including two with CSI creator Anthony Zuiker: soap Tabooat ABC and an Alice In Wonderland sequel at NBC. Zelman is repped by UTA and Circle of Confusion.

Publisher's Marketplace

Jason Mott's THE RETURNED, about a family caught in the center of a worldwide event in which people's deceased loved ones are returning to life, to ABC with Aaron Zelman (THE KILLING, DAMAGES) writing and Plan B Entertainment (TREE OF LIFE) and Brillstein Entertainment (RINGER) producing, by Sean Daily at Hotchkiss and Associates on behalf of Michelle Brower at Folio Literary Management.