‘Transcendence’ Outfit Straight Up, Author Tony Robbins & ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ Scribe Team On Holocaust Drama ‘Man’s Search For Meaning’

EXCLUSIVETranscendence outfit Straight Up Films has been joined by author Tony Robbins and screenwriter Angela Workman (The Zookeeper’s Wife) on feature project Man’s Search For Meaning about the experience of Holocaust survivor, psychiatrist and author Viktor Frankl.

Frankl’s grandson Alex Vessely is also aboard for the film, which is being produced under Straight Up’s recently launched social impact banner Straight Up Impact.

Holocaust memoir Man’s Search For Meaning recounts Frankl’s life in Nazi death camps and lessons for spiritual survival. Frankl was captive in four camps including Auschwitz from 1942-45; his parents, brother and pregnant wife died during that period.

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EXCLUSIVETranscendence outfit Straight Up Films has been joined by author Tony Robbins and screenwriter Angela Workman (The Zookeeper’s Wife) on feature project Man’s Search For Meaning about the experience of Holocaust survivor, psychiatrist and author Viktor Frankl.

Frankl’s grandson Alex Vessely is also aboard for the film, which is being produced under Straight Up’s recently launched social impact banner Straight Up Impact.

Holocaust memoir Man’s Search For Meaning recounts Frankl’s life in Nazi death camps and lessons for spiritual survival. Frankl was captive in four camps including Auschwitz from 1942-45; his parents, brother and pregnant wife died during that period.

Born in Vienna in 1905, Frankl began counseling in the 1920s and corresponded with Sigmund Freud. After the war, he continued his work as a psychiatrist and neurologist in Vienna. With more than 16 million copies sold, Man’s Search for Meaning centers on the notion that people are motivated by finding meaning and purpose in their lives, rather than the pursuit of mere pleasure or happiness. In the book, Frankl posits that Nazi prisoners who were able to find meaning, even if only to help another person get through the day, were more likely to survive the camps.

Straight Up Impact founders Kate Cohen and Marisa Polvino, both producers on 2014 Johnny Depp sci-fi Transcendence, are producing the film in partnership with motivational speaker and bestselling author Robbins and Frankl’s grandson Vesely. Pam Roy, who is a co-founder of Straight Up Impact, will serve as executive producer of the film, which is in development.

Screenwriter Workman has scripted a string of studio-level development projects, including Roland Emmerich’s longtime passion project Maya Lord. Jessica Chastain starred in her 2017 Focus Features drama The Zookeeper’s Wife.

“We are honored that Viktor Frankl’s family has entrusted us to tell his incredible life story,” Cohen said. “Our mission is to share his teachings with the world in the hopes that more people find meaning in their lives.”

Robbins commented: “The ability to find meaning in the most difficult times, even in times of injustice or extreme stress is perhaps the most important skill we can develop in life. Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, provides the most compelling and triumphant account I have ever read of humanity’s ability to persevere through the unimaginable. I’ve long recommended to those in a rough place in life to read Frankl’s book. This film will allow the important life lessons contained in this timeless and significant work to reach and impact even more people.”

“When suffering is inevitable, the attitude we choose matters most,” said Vesely, a licensed logotherapist (the theory founded by his grandfather) and co-founder of the Viktor Frankl Institute of America. “Despite experiencing unspeakable horrors and loss, my grandfather continued to help others to find meaning in life, even when great adversity and tragedy are a part of it. I hope this film inspires anyone dealing with their own struggles.”

Straight Up Impact is aiming to produce a variety of media, including features, series, documentaries and short films, with budgets up to $20M.

 

Film Adaptation Of ‘Thief’ Video Game Series Coming From Straight Up Films

Straight Up Films is getting into the video game movie business and is producing a feature adaptation of the Square Enix video game series Thief, with Roy Lee and Adrian Askarieh also producing. Lee is producing under his Vertigo Entertainment banner. Sandra Condito, President of Production at Straight Up Films will exec produce alongside Khalid Jones of Source Rock and Square Enix, and Adam Mason and Simon Boyes have been tapped to write the script. (more…)

Straight Up Films is getting into the video game movie business and is producing a feature adaptation of the Square Enix video game series Thief, with Roy Lee and Adrian Askarieh also producing. Lee is producing under his Vertigo Entertainment banner. Sandra Condito, President of Production at Straight Up Films will exec produce alongside Khalid Jones of Source Rock and Square Enix, and Adam Mason and Simon Boyes have been tapped to write the script.

First launched by Looking Glass Studios in 1998, the Thief series consists of several stealth-based first person perspective games set in a fantasy steampunk world that resembles a cross between the late Middle Ages and the Victorian era. Ownership of the franchise passed hands several times before ending up at Square Enix subsidiary Edios Montreal. The series received a reboot in 2014 that may serve as the inspiration for the film.

Mason and Boyes are repped by WME, Luber Roklin, and George Davis.

Straight Up Films Options ‘Dead Mountain’; Nonfiction Book Examines Soviet-Era Hiking Disaster

EXCLUSIVE: Straight Up Films has optioned the nonfiction bestseller Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story Of The Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar. Blacklist screenwriter Brandon Lee Tenney has been tapped to write the screenplay.

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EXCLUSIVE: Straight Up Films has optioned the nonfiction bestseller Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story Of The Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar. Blacklist screenwriter Brandon Lee Tenney has been tapped to write the screenplay.

The book details the unsolved 1959 deaths of nine hikers in Russia’s Ural Mountains, in an elevation called Dead Mountain. Soviet investigators later determined that hikers, apparently fleeing some kind of threat, had torn open their tents and ran barefoot out into the snow. No signs of any struggle were found, though more than one of the dead had injuries consistent with blunt force trauma. Unsurprisingly, the inability to determine what actually happened gave rise to numerous wild theories, ranging from the Soviet military was conducting secret weapons experiments in the area to an attack by extraterrestrials.

Eichar spent half a decade researching the incident, retracing the route taken by the hikers himself, interviewing surving family and friends and examining extant documents. Tenney’s script will dramatize the book’s account, focusing on the last days before the hikers died and on the bonds formed between them. Kate Cohen, Marisa Polvino and Casey Carroll of Straight Up Films will produce with Eichar; Peter Sussman is the executive producer.

Most recently, Straight Up Films produced 2014’s Transcendence and the Natalie Portman starrer Jane Got a Gun, which is in postproduction. Tenney is represented by WME, Art/Work Entertainment and attorney Neil Meyer. Eichar is with WME and Sussmanagement.

‘Transcendence’ Producers Nab Rights to Sci-Fi Novel ‘Thirteen’ (Exclusive)

Kenny Golde is adapting the film, which is being produced by Straight-Up Films’ Kate Cohen and Marisa Polvino along with Vinson Films’ Tripp Vinson.

Transcendence producers Kate Cohen and Marisa Polvinoare heading back to the future.

The Straight-Up Films duo, who developed and produced the Johnny Depp vehicle, have acquired the rights to the futuristic noir thriller Thirteen.

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Kenny Golde is adapting the film, which is being produced by Straight-Up Films' Kate Cohen and Marisa Polvino along with Vinson Films' Tripp Vinson.

Transcendence producers Kate Cohen and Marisa Polvinoare heading back to the future.

The Straight-Up Films duo, who developed and produced the Johnny Depp vehicle, have acquired the rights to the futuristic noir thriller Thirteen.

Written by Richard K. Morgan, the novel was first published 2008 and won the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction literature. Morgan previously won the Philip K. Dick Award for distinguished science fiction writing.

Kenny Golde will write the screenplay. He most recently adapted Isaac Asimov’s sci-fi thriller End of Eternity for New Regency and is the writer of Forsaken, which is set up with Hyde Park and Parkes/MacDonald with Jean-Luc Herbulot attached to direct. Golde also penned the indie World War II film Walking With the Enemy, which is currently in theaters.

Cohen and Polvino are producing Thirteen alongside Tripp Vinson through his Vinson Films. Vinson brought the novel to Cohen and Polvino. Lisa Zambri will executive produce.

Cohen also wrote and produced the Nick Stahl/Alicia Witt drama Away From Here, which Polvino executive produced. Polvino previously produced The Education of Charlie Banks and Brooklyn Rules.

Vinson has several projects in varying stages of production including Solace, starring Colin FarrellAnthony Hopkins and Abbie Cornish in post-production; the Dwayne Johnson actioner San Andreas, which is currently filming; and is beginning production this week on the thriller Eloise, featuring the directorial debut of Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Robert Legato (TitanicHugo). On the television side, Vinson executive produces the hit CBS series Intelligence.

Golde is repped by APA, manager Jon Karas and attorney Darren Trattner.

Morgan was handled by Alan Nevins of Renaissance Literary & Talent.