MGM Acquires Comedy Script

LOS ANGELES, April 14: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
(MGM) Pictures has acquired writer Ben Wexler’s comedy Bobism for a feature-film adaptation, marking the first
comedy spec purchased by the studio under the supervision of Mary Parent, the
chairperson of the worldwide motion picture group.

In Bobism, a shy college kid learns that his blog will be
the basis for society 1,000 years from now unless aliens from the future kill
him first. Bobism is Wexler’s
first studio feature. He is currently developing with Happy Madison for Fox and
is prepping a television version of Hitch with Overbrook for CBS. Prior to his current assignments, Wexler spent
four years working on the CBS family comedy Still Standing, while in an overall deal at Twentieth Century
Fox.

The Bobism adaptation will be produced by Contrafilm’s Tripp
Vinson and Beau Flynn. Adam F. Goldberg will also serve as a producer on the
film. Overseeing the project for MGM are Cale Boyter, the studio’s executive VP
of production, and Becky Sloviter, the VP of production. Lisa Zambri of
Contrafilm will participate as a producer on the project in some capacity.

"Ben Wexler found a
way to cleverly combine comedy, action and sci-fi genres and play them real,”
commented Contrafilm’s Vinson.

—By Irene Lew