Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: The metamorphosis of Dan Fogelman from animated film writer to multi-hyphenate continues. Fogelman, the writer of Cars, Bolt and Tangled, made two of the biggest spec deals in recent memory when he got $2.5 million from Warner Bros for Crazy, Stupid, Love, followed by a $3 million deal also from Warner Bros to make his directing debut on Imagine, with Steve Carell starring in both. And Paramount has just given a green light to My Mother’s Curse, a road trip relationship film that Fogelman scripted based on his own experiences. Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen are starring.

Now, Fogelman is at the center of a new deal. Indian Paintbrush has acquired screen rights to Me & Earl & The Dying Girl, a novel by Jesse Andrews that will be published early next year by Abrams. Fogelman is aboard to direct and produce, and he will supervise Andrews, the first-time author who gets his first crack at a script. The book is a John Hughes-style coming of age tale in which a popular high school student in Pittsburgh is forced by his mother to befriend a sick girl he once knew when they attended Hebrew school together. While the student has managed to be friends with every clique in school without actually committing to any of them, his commitment to the new friendship changes his life.

The deal was brokered by WME, which repped both the book and Fogelman, the latter of whom is managed by Industry Entertainment.