A24 has made its first spec script acquisition with a horror text from Kristen Roupenian, author of the viral New Yorker fiction story, “Cat Person.”
Bodies, Bodies, Bodies is the name of the screenplay, but the lot is veiled in secrecy.
Roupenian’s “Cat Person,” which was published in December, told the story of a 20-year-old female college student who has a relationship with an older man that turns sour. It became The New Yorker’s most-read fiction story of 2017.
Executives at A24 were familiar with the short story, and when they heard the author had separately written a script, they tracked it down. What the execs found was a shrewd character study where mystery and deep-seated scares blended in such a way that the company saw an opportunity to make a horror movie that could also be culturally relevant.
Bodies could kick off a new phase for A24, the production-finance-distribution company behind such movies as Lady Bird and Ex Machina. The company now hopes to buy and develop more scripts in their earliest form.
Roupenian scored a good deal with Scout Press for her next collection of stories.
