Cape Town scriptwriter, Dennis Venter (SOS, Home Affairs, Interrogation Room, Stokvel, Madam & Eve) has optioned his feature script The Fubars to Hollywood-based Original Content Productions and signed a three-script deal.
Fubars will mark the directorial debut of Nick Powell, whose career has seen him move from stunt director to second unit director (Braveheart, The Bourne Identity, The Last Samurai, Cinderella Man, The Hours, Magdelene Sisters).
Jim Thompson with Original Content has also arranged for Venter to be hired to write the feature script Ghetto Rats, a City of God meets Bourne Identity action-thriller for Powell. This is the first script in a three-script deal between Venter and Powell.
Venter, a seasoned television veteran in South Africa, has over 150 credits to his resume in both hour-long dramas and sitcoms. “It’s tough enough breaking into Hollywood from outside LA,” says Venter, “never mind from beyond US borders. InkTip provides a means for non-US residents to interact with producers they may otherwise not have access to.”
The Fubars title may have to be changed as in the film it is the name of a band turned bank robbers. It stands for “fucked up beyond all recognition’ but it appears that an American group is already using this abbreviation. In this dark comedy, the band’s name becomes all too real when they decide on robbery to fund their careers.
Original Content’s Jim Thompson, producer of the upcoming Diamonds in the Rough and War starring Jet Li and Jeremy Statham, describes the thriller/black-comedy script as twisted, funny and original.
Venter is a published author and his career as a television writer was launched on the Penguin sitcom SOS. This was the result of his meeting sitcom writers Adrian Galley and Vicki Bawcombe at SASWA (South African Script Writing Association) gatherings in Cape Town. He has also written Going Up, Charlie Jade, Brothers in Law, Shooting Stars, Divers Down, Kululeka, Fela’s TV, Home Affairs.
