Some writers are lucky. They pitch a script and the studio buys it straight away. Newcomer Henry Jones is one of the lucky ones, as his idea for The Black Path has been snapped up by New Line.
The plot follows an unemployed novelist making the rent by writing magazine articles. But while researching a travel article, he discovers a legendary Incan treasure, long buried and lost. Unfortunately for him, the shiny gold icon comes with a curse – one by one his search party start killing each other for it.
According to Variety, there’s a real-life basis for the thriller idea: the Incan treasure Atahualpa has never been found and is believed to be cursed.
But some writers know all about curses. Lois Lowry has been waiting 13 years for someone to actually make a movie from her novel The Giver, which has been under option all that time but never actually got chugging into production.
Warner Bros has finally closed the deal to buy the award-winning, best-selling book, which hit the shelves in 1994 and tells the tale of a young man living in an emotionally suppressed future utopia (think Equilibrium, but, you know, not rubbish). Life hands him the short straw when he’s picked to take on all the community’s emotional history and deluged with new feelings.
"We've spoken to so many filmmakers who brought up the book because they'd shared it with their children," blabbed producer Douglas Wick to Variety . "When we heard it was available, we did our best to make sure it didn't get away. We feel very confident that one of these filmmakers will want to join us." Meanwhile, Lowry can go back to enjoying her writing career and the fat paycheque Warner Bros will be sending to her bank. As for the film? It looks like it might get made this time, but don’t go holding your breath unless you’re a world champion.
source:( Variety )
