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In a competitive situation, MGM has bought horror script Bed Rest by relative newcomer Lori Evans Taylor.
Chris Sparling, the scribe who wrote the upcoming Gus Van Sant drama Sea of Trees starring Matthew McConaughey, is attached to produce with Karen Rosenfelt.
Spec scripts were the currency of much movie development in the 1990s and into the mid-2000s but the WGA strike, shrinking DVD revenues and studio contraction led to their waning. When they do occur, it’s usually with major attachments. That’s why clean specs such as this one are rare.
The script began making the rounds last week, generating heavy interest from the studios. Bed Rest is no slasher or gorefest but aims to be a more elevated showcase for an actress. The story centers on a expectant mother who, due to the nature of her pregnancy, is confined to bed rest. It’s when she can’t leave her home that bad things begin to happen. Some have compared the tone to films such as Disturbia but with supernatural elements.
MGM came in to make a strong preemptive deal in the mid-six figures Friday evening.
Bed Rest is Taylor’s first feature film writing credit. She is repped by Kaplan/Perrone.
Sparling knows a thing or two about contained thrillers. Among his writing credits is Buried, the 2010 thriller that starred Ryan Reynolds and that told about a man trapped in a coffin. The indie garnered Sparling a National Board of Review win for best screenplay. And he just adapted Blood on Snow for Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio‘s Appian Way.
Rosenfelt was a producer on the Twilight Saga movies as well as several Alvin and the Chipmunks movies. She is in post on Me Before You, a drama that stars Emilia Clarke.
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