UPDATE, 10:45 AM: Sony Pictures Classics has just confirmed my scoop on a busy Sunday night at the Sundance Film Festival that it has acquired The Diary Of A Teenage Girl, from writer-director Marielle Heller based on Phoebe Gloeckner’s graphic novel. UTA Independent Film Group brokered the deal for North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Eastern Europe excluding Russia, Asia, Scandinavia and Germany. K5 Intl is handing the rest. See the full release after the original scoop.
PREVIOUS EXCLUSIVE, SUNDAY PM: Sony Pictures Classics is wrapping up a deal for The Diary Of A Teenage Girl, the Marielle Heller-directed drama that premiered Saturday at the Eccles Theater. Deal was $2 million for North America, plus numerous other territories around the world. Pic is about a 15-year-old aspiring comic book artist who comes of age in 1970s San Francisco and is insatiably curious about the world around her. It’s the free-love era, and she begins sleeping with her mother’s boyfriend.
Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgard, Christopher Meloni, and Kristen Wiig star.
Pic is competing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, and UTA is brokering the deal with the SPC team. Miranda Bailey, Anne Carey, Bert Hamelinck and Madeline Samit produced. Heller wrote the script.
Here’s Sony Classics’ full release:
NEW YORK (January 27, 2014) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they acquired the rights in North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Eastern Europe excluding Russia, Asia, Scandinavia and Germany to Marielle Heller’s directorial debut, THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL. The film, based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner, premiered on Saturday at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where it has been one of the most well received films by critics and audiences alike. K5 International is handling all international territories.
Written by Heller, THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL stars Kristen Wiig, Alexander Skarsgård, Chrisopher Meloni and breakout phenomenon Bel Powley. The film is produced by Madeline Samit, Bert Hamelinck, Anne Carey, and Miranda Bailey and executive produced by Michael Sagol, Amanda Marshall, Amy Nauiokas and Jorma Taccone.
THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL recounts the coming-of-age adventures of Minnie Goetze (Powley), a San Francisco teenager growing up in the counterculture haze of the 1970s. Lonely and artistic, Minnie chronicles her trials through expressive drawings and painfully honest missives confided to a tape recorder. One fateful evening alone with her mother’s (Wiig) boyfriend (Skarsgård), Minnie is confronted with her burgeoning sexuality for the first time, and suddenly this precocious teen is in way over her head.
“Discovering major writer/directors like Mari Heller is why we come to Sundance. There is no richer American movie at Sundance this year. We so look forward to presenting the film to audiences all over the world in a big way,” stated Sony Pictures Classics.
“THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL has been a labor of love. Starting out in the Sundance Labs, premiering at the festival, and now finding a home with Sony Pictures Classics, is a dream come true. Their love for film and filmmakers and passion for this movie makes me feel confident THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL will reach its audience,” said writer/director Marielle Heller.
The deal was negotiated with UTA Independent Film Group, on behalf of the filmmakers and K5, who represents international.
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