How to use this Page

A theatrical production of To Kill a Mockingbird will open on Broadway. Scott Rudin, a famed producer, has acquired the stage adaptation rights.

According to Playbill, Aaron Sorkin, an Oscar-winning screenwriter, has agreed to adapt Harper Lee’s beloved novel for the script. Bartlett Sher, a Tony Award-winning director, has signed on to take the helm of this show.

The Wall Street Journal reports that “the move marks a reversal for Lee, who after To Kill a Mockingbird was published told her agent she didn’t want there to be a Broadway adaptation of the novel, according to correspondence in the archives of her former agent at Columbia University.” Last year, Lee shocked fans with a To Kill a Mockingbird sequel entitled Go Set a Watchman. HarperCollins published that book in July 2015. (via The New York Times)

When it rains, it pours as it comes to news of comics getting gobbled up for adaptation. Following the just announced Dreadstar television series deal, THR is now reporting that Sony has picked up the film rights to Scott McCloud‘s acclaimed graphic novel The Sculptor.

The film will be produced by Academy Award winner Scott Rudin (No Country for Old Men, The Grand Budapest Hotel) and Josh Bratman (Captain Phillips).

The Sculptor, McCloud first fictional comics work since 1998’s The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln, has only been out via First Second for two weeks and has been incredibly well-received by the critical community. You can read Beat contributor Harper Harris‘ review here, as well as our interview with McCloud on the process of creating the nearly 500 page graphic novel.

Ruth Pomerance, the publishing professional who uncovered John Grisham’s The Firm back in 1990, will join Hyperion as senior editor.

In her new post, she will “focus on the acquisition and development of new stories and author talent that will translate across the Disney/ABC Television Group businesses.” Pomerance spent 30 years working in between the publishing, film and television industry. She developed books for a variety of producers, ranging from Scott Rudin, Arnold Kopelson, Fred Zollo, and John Davis. 

Here’s more from the release: “Pomerance has held posts at The Rockwell Group, USA Films, Artists Management Group, and the William Morris Agency where she began her career as a story editor. Most recently, Pomerance served as Executive Producer for the feature film adaptation of Judy Blume’s novel Tiger Eyes and Consultant to various entertainment firms including Image Entertainment.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Sony Pictures Entertainment will adapt Walter Isaacson‘s bestselling biography of Steve Jobs, with The Social Network screenwriter Aaron Sorkin writing on the script.

Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal had this statement:  “Jobs’ story is unique: he was one of the most revolutionary and influential men not just of our time but of all time. There is no writer working in Hollywood today who is more capable of capturing such an extraordinary life for the screen than Aaron Sorkin; in his hands, we’re confident that the film will be everything that Jobs himself was: captivating, entertaining, and polarizing.”

Mark Gordon, Scott Rudin and Guymon Casady will produce the upcoming biopic.  Deadline Hollywood has the release.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

After ordering a pilot last year, HBO has passed on The Corrections, a television adaptation of Jonathan Franzen‘s bestselling novel.

Director Noah Baumbach shot the pilot and Franzen produced alongside Scott Rudin. Franzen discussed the project at a literary festival last year. Are you surprised?

Variety has the scoop: “The Corrections revolves around the troubles of a Midwestern couple and their three adult children as they trace their lives from the mid-20th century to ‘one last Christmas’ together near the turn of the millennium. The parents were played by Chris Cooper and Dianne Wiest while Ewan McGregor and Maggie Gyllenhaal were cast as the couple’s adult children.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Ewan McGregor, the actor who played a crazy private detective in Eye of the Beholder and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels, has been cast in HBO’s upcoming adaptation of Jonathan Franzen‘s The Corrections.

Here’s more from The Hollywood Reporter: “McGregor will play Chip, the middle child of an elderly Midwestern couple ([Chris Cooper], [Dianne Wiest]) who reunite the family for one last Christmas.”

Who else would you cast for this grim family drama? As we noted earlier this year, Noah Baumbach and producer Scott Rudin were involved.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

HBO has approved a “half-hour comedy project” based on Karen Russell‘s critically acclaimed novel,  Swamplandia. Producer Scott Rudin will lead the project.

Follow this link to read a free excerpt from Swamplandia. The debut novel focused on a teenaged alligator wrestler who takes a surreal journey through the Florida Everglades.

The Hollywood Reporter also revealed details about other literary projects at HBO: “A search is under way for a writer on the project, with Rudin attached to executive produce the comedy and author Russell consulting … In addition, Rudin is attached to Noah Baumbach‘s adaptation of Jonathan Frazen‘s The Corrections and Cynthia Mort‘s half-hour comedy based on scribe Mary Karr‘s life.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

At the New Yorker Festival, Jonathan Franzen confirmed that he is working on an adaptation of The Corrections for HBO. The video embedded above features a small preview of the 86-minute talk with New Yorker editor David Remnick.

According to The Gothamist, the HBO series will have four seasons to be aired over the course of four years. Franzen explained: “I’m really engaged [in the project] … We have an opportunity, I think, to do something that has not been done where we know what happens in the last episode. All four seasons can be very carefully designed in advance.” (via Shelf Awareness)

Franzen also confirmed the rumors that filmmaker Noah Baumbach and producer Scott Rudin were involved. Who would you cast as the members of the Lambert family?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Author Ben Mezrich‘s latest project is a nonfiction book entitled Sex on the Moon. According to the LA Times, Sony Pictures has already optioned the film rights to the book proposal.

Here’s more from the article: “The new film tells the story of Thad Roberts, a once-promising young scientist working for NASA who back in 2004 hatched a crazy plan to steal highly prized moon rocks from his bosses at the Johnson Space Center and sell them on the Internet. The motivation: wanting to impress his girlfriend.”

Read more about the incident at this link. The production team behind The Social Network — Kevin Spacey, Dana Brunetti, Scott Rudin and Michael De Luca — will reunite for this project. Mezrich (pictured, via) tweeted the news: “The cat is out of the bag, new book new movie same amazing producers and studio…”

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Joel and Ethan Coen are working on an adaptation of the classic western True Grit by Charles Portis for their next project. According to Variety, their adaptation of the 1969 picture will hew more closely to the Charles Portis book on which it is based. In the book, a 14-year-old girl, an aging US marshal, and another lawman track her father’s killer through Indian country. While the 1969 version focused on Wayne, the Coens’ version will highlight the girl’s point of view.