EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures has won a vigorous bidding battle pegged at high-six figures for In The Deep, a spec script by Tony Jaswinski that had created feeding frenzy all day. The film will be produced by former Warner Bros executive Lynn Harris; it is the first project she has put together with Matti Leshem in the new producing shingle Weimaraner Republic Pictures.
Shark week in September? Bidders included Sony Pictures and Warner Bros, both of which had Harris set up as producer. Fox had made an offer with another upstart producer pairing, former Silver Pictures’ guys Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman. Paramount had been brokering the action all day for Jaswinski, whose film Kristy premieres at the London Film Festival next month.
Tonally, the spec is described as a cross between 127 Hours meets Jaws, with a touch of Gravity thrown in for good measure. A young woman who is dealing with the recent death of her mother is surfing on an isolated beach and gets stranded 20 yards off shore on a buoy. What lies between her and the shore is a huge great white shark. It’s an emotional piece for a young twentysomething star.
Jaswinski is repped by Paradigm and Circle of Confusion.
