Deal
of the
WeekBig
Deal7 Days of DEALS
Who’s inking on the dotted line this week
The Report
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 22 AUGUST 14, 2019
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ETTY^ IMAGES.^The Swallows (BALLANTINE BOOKS, AUG. 13)
BY Lisa Lutz AGENCY WME
Alex Witt has just started work as a boarding school teacher when
she uncovers a long-held social hierarchy run by male students.
The novel tackles the topical, real-life dangers of male privilege
that can be seen on many high school and college campuses.What Is a Girl Worth? (TYNDALE MOMENTUM, SEPT. 10)
BY Rachael Denhollander AGENCY UTA
The first woman to publicly come forward against gymnastics
doctor and serial child molester Larry Nassar pens a memoir that,
like docuseries Surviving R. Kelly and Leaving Neverland, looks into
the emotional impact of headline-dominating abuse cases.Rights Available! Hot new books with Hollywood appeal BY MIA GALUPPO
FILM
Taika Waititi (CAA,
Manage-ment, Morris
Yo rn) will write and direct
soccer film Next Goal Wins
for Fox Searchlight.James Wan (Paradigm,
Stacey Testro, Myman
Greenspan) and his Atomic
Monster banner have
optioned Nick Cutter’s
horror novel The Troop,
with Channel Zero’s E.L.
Katz attached to direct.Teenage Mutant Ninja
Tu r t l e s’ Josh Appelbaum
and André Nemec (WME,
Sloane Offer) will write
a new G.I. Joe movie for
Paramount and Hasbro.Wesley Snipes (APA),
Leslie Jones (CAA,
Integral, Hansen
Jacobson) and KiKi Layne
(WME, Anonymous, Sloane
Offer) have joined Eddie
Murphy in Paramount’s
Coming 2 America.Hackman Capital has
added another pillar to
its foundation as a major
studio owner.
On Aug. 7, the Los
Angeles-based real estate investment
firm acquired Manhattan Beach Studios
from the Carlyle Group for $650 million,
adding the 22-acre, 587,000-square-foot
production facility to a portfolio that
already includes Culver City’s Culver
Studios, where Hackman is building out
Amazon Studios’ new headquarters, and
Television City in L.A.’s Fairfax district
that it purchased from CBS in 2018 for
$750 million.
A Growing Studio (Real Estate) Empire
MBS’ $650 million price tag includes
the acquisition of both the property and
MBS Services, which provides wraparound
production resources like lighting and grip
equipment for content creators. The studio
is the headquarters of James Cameron andJon Landau’s Lightstorm Entertainment,
now at work on the Avatar sequels.
Unlike Culver Studios and Television
City, which were built in 1918 and 1952,
respectively, MBS opened in 1999 and
likely requires few upgrades. Hackman
execs are coy about how its studio empire,
which spans Mid-City and now extends
to the South Bay, all links together, but
Kris Anderson, executive vp operations
and finance, notes, “Television City has
a very broadcast-centric client base,
whereas MBS and Culver City are more
along the lines of dramas and comedies
and feature films — so they are different
animals.” — PETER KIEFERARE THE GAME OF THRONES GU YS
A SMART GAMBLE FOR NETFLIX?
With a game-changing franchise behind them and
another that might keep them busy for the next six
years, Game of Thrones turned Star Wars maestros
David Benioff and Dan Weiss have signed a five-year,
$250 million overall deal with Netflix that has been
met with envy and a bit of head-scratching.
The biggest TV overalls have gone to prolific
showrunners like Shonda Rhimes, Ryan Murphy
and Greg Berlanti, who juggle writing with oversee-
ing other creators on multiple programs. Benioff
and Weiss, both 48, have focused exclusively on one
project and effectively made just 73 episodes of TV.
(They wouldn’t even start on Star Wars for Disney
until Thrones was finished.) In contrast, Netflix-
based Rhimes (four years, $100 million-plus) has
eight projects in the works halfway into her deal,
Murphy (five years, $300 million) said that he has
10 projects 18 months after moving to the streamer
and Berlanti has a TV-record 18 series on the air for
Warner Bros. “The only way to make a deal like this
work is if you have multiple shows,” one top exec
tells THR. “The bet is that they’ll do another Game of
Thrones, and that’s a big bet.”
Sources say the Thrones pair is writing a treat-
ment for a Star Wars trilogy and is committed to
penning at least one of the films (the original deal
was to write all three). It’s unclear if the duo,
who also have another feature for Fox/Disneycarved out, will do more than just write for Star Wars.
Still, a person familiar with the Netflix deal says
the streamer was briefed on their Star Wars schedule
and isn’t worried: “It’s not going to be 10 years
[until] Netflix sees their first output,” adding that
Benioff and Weiss “have a lot of ambition.”
Others are skeptical. “Certain people command
[nine figures,] and we’ve made those deals,” says
Universal TV president Pearlena Igbokwe, who inked
multitasking producer Mike Schur to a five-year pact
valued at $125 million. “[Benioff and Weiss] is not
a deal that I went after.” The same is true for HBO,
the duo’s decade-plus home, which sources say was
unwilling to offer the bid they wanted. Instead, HBO
parent WarnerMedia is in final talks for a $500 mil-
lion pact with J.J. Abrams — who already has three
shows on the network. — LESLEY GOLDBERGBeanie
FeldsteinCSI: Miami and Jane the Virgin have shot at
Manhattan Beach Studios’ Media Campus.Benioff (left)
and Weiss have
inked what
sources say
is a five-year,
$250 million
pact.