So far, the new Skydance-owned Paramount has made a wrestling deal, a talent deal, and a filmmaker deal, all of them splashy.
Now comes the splashy spec script deal.
Paramount has aggressively picked up Bald Eagles, a comedy spec by rising scribe Brandon Cohen, that sources say is in the seven figures.
Details on the deal and script are being kept in the aerie, but Eagles is described as an R-rated high concept workplace comedy.
Fred Berger, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Jack Whigham of Range Media Partners will produce the feature. Range also reps Cohen.
Paramount co-chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg, even as they plan to manage brands and IP, are making it a point to acquire original material and are willing to bet on what they believe will pay off as they race to build a diversified slate at top speed.
Some sources say the deal could prove to be one of the biggest spec sales of the year. Regardless, it will undoubtably prove to be life-changing for Cohen, an aspiring writer who five years ago earned credits penning scripts for Disney Channel series Just Roll With It.
Recent years were tough professionally for the writer, then became hard personally, as well. Late last year, his wife delivered twins severely prematurely. They were not preemies, but micro-preemies, born at 24 weeks. The twins endured months of hospital stays this year, and one child struggled with an infant lung disease.
Amid all of this, Cohen poured himself into his writing, comedies of all things, coming up with two spec scripts. He sold I Can See You’re Angry to Miramax in March, with BoulderLight producing. Eagles is the second spec.
Since closing the merger between Skydance and Paramount Global Aug, 7, the new entity has made a $7.7 billion deal for exclusive U.S. broadcast rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for seven years, snagged a crime drama to star Timothée Chalamet and be directed by James Mangold, and stole Stranger Things creators the Duffer Bros. from Netflix for a large overall first-look. On top of that, it is in talks with Legendary to release that company’s movies in an output deal.