Surf's up for Walden Media

Surfing films these days seem to be all the rage, even if – like penguin ‘toon Surf’s Up – they sometimes wipe out at the box office.

But that hasn’t stopped Walden Media from nabbing a treatment for a movie based on the real-life exploits of Jay Moriarity, a surfing expert who, while still a teen, tackled the waves at Maverick’s, a coastal zone in Northern California which boasts waves up to five stories high.

Daniel Barnz and Ned Zeman have been hired to write the script based on Jim Meenaghan and Brandon Hooper. Meenaghan’s day job is as an executive at Walden, and he praised his company for nurturing his writing side… “"I did it on my free time and brought it back to my company," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's very cool that I work at a company where they encourage creativity in their employees."

If you’ll excuse us, we’re off to ask the Ed if we can slack off to complete our dream screenplay about a surfing dog named Coffeenuts.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.