Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Writer Geoff LaTulippe just closed his first directing job at Paramount’s Insurge label. LaTulippe, who scripted Going the Distance and Breathers, will write and direct an untitled comedy ensemble based on his pitch at Paramount. What makes this particularly interesting for Deadline is that his studio shot came about after Par Film Group president Adam Goodman saw on Deadline a short that LaTulippe’s made for WME’s all-company retreat in which Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s J.B. Smoove took over the agency on Yom Kippur. That got the aspiring director a meeting, where the studio bought his pitch and set him to direct for its microbudget film division. Dawn Olmstead and Marti Noxon are producing the project. LaTulippe is repped by WME and Mosaic.

He’s the second piece of talent from a Hollywood parody aired on Deadline who got a career nudge. After playing an Ari-esque superagent in another WME-generated spoof Pinkberry: The Movie, the UTA-repped Miles Fisher got the starring role in Final Destination 5, followed by a supporting role the Clint Eastwood-directed J. Edgar. Can a Deadline short film Hollywood parody contest be in our future? Below is LaTulippe’s JB Smoove short, and beneath that is Pinkberry: The Movie.

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