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Ellen DeGeneres Wants To ‘Sing You Home’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday March 22, 2011 @ 9:23am PDTTags: Anjelica Huston, Craig Zadan, Daniel Radcliffe, Debra Messing, Ellen DeGeneres, Footloose, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, Jodi Picoult, Neil Meron, Nick Cassavetes, Steven Spielberg
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Ellen DeGeneres is teaming with Storyline partners Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to produce Sing You Home, a feature film based on the bestselling novel by Jodi Picoult. DeGeneres will be involved solely as producer on this, and I’m told it’s a passion project for her. She optioned it with her own money and enlisted Zadan and Meron. They will develop it themselves.

The novel is about a woman who spends 10 years before finally getting pregnant. Seven months in, the child is stillborn, her distraught husband can’t take anymore and leaves her. She throws herself into her career as a music therapist and unexpectedly develops a romantic relationship with a female guidance counselor. This newfound happiness makes her reconsider having a family again, and she remembers that she and her husband left behind several frozen embryos. Unfortunately, her ex has become involved with an evangelical church, run by a charismatic pastor who has pledged to fight the “homosexual agenda” he feels is endangering traditional family values. The ex-husband and pastor take issue with his ex-wife’s desire to use the embryos. Much the way that Picoult’s novel My Sister’s Keeper found an emotional way into the controversial topic of genetic planning (that book was turned into a movie directed by Nick Cassavetes), Picoult’s Sing You Home takes on the issues of in vitro fertilization and gay rights, arguments that end up in the courtroom.

Zadan and Meron take on the project with DeGeneres as they prepare for Sunday’s Broadway opening of How to Succeed At Business Without Really Trying. The revival, anchored by the Broadway stage musical debut of Harry Potter‘s Daniel Radcliffe, heads into its opening after selling out its preview performances. Zadan and Meron just completed the remake of Footloose for an Oct. 14 release through Paramount. They are also shooting Smash, the pilot they are producing with Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks and NBC starring Debra Messing and Anjelica Huston. ICM reps DeGeneres.

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NBC Developing Comic-Based Drama Starring ‘Heroes’ Alum Milo Ventimiglia

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday November 3, 2010 @ 9:47am PDTTags: Comic Books, Comic-to-Series, Craig Zadan, NBC, NBC Development, Neil Meron, TV, TV Development
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: He just starred on an NBC drama series with comic book mythology. Now Heroes star Milo Ventimiglia is back at the network as the star/executive producer of Rest, a new drama project based on a comic book series he … Read More »

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ABC Family Developing Film With Craig Zadan And Neil Meron About Lesbian Teen Who Was Banned From Prom

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday October 7, 2010 @ 2:23pm PDTTags: ABC Family Development, Cable TV, Craig Zadan, Gay Teen Bullying, Neil Meron, TV, TV Deals
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: The topic of gay teen bullying has dominated the media lately with news reports of five teen boys taking their lives last month alone after being harassed because of their sexual orientation. One of the rare cases where the bullying led to a happy ending – the story of rural Mississipi lesbian high school student Constance McMillen who successfully sued the local school district for discrimination — will become a TV movie for ABC Family. The project, in early stages of development, hails from Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and Sony Pictures TV who have optioned the rights to McMillen’s story. Ghost Whisperer creator/executive producer John Gray will write the script and is expected to direct. Read More »

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Fox 2000 Wins Beach Boys Musical Pitch For North Of $2 Million

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday October 1, 2010 @ 11:04am PDTTags: Beach Boys, Craig Zadan, Elizabeth Gabler, Fox 2000, John Stamos, Movie Deals, Movies, Neil Meron, Susannah Grant
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE AND UPDATED: Fox 2000 has beat out Universal Pictures by paying north of $2 million for a pitch by Susannah Grant and rights to songs from the Beach Boys song catalogue that will form the basis for … Read More »

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