While many in the Hollywood studio world are understandably focused on the next wave of young horror talent, some are keeping an eye on next generation of comedy talent that is rising.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller have come aboard to produce I Promise We’re Cool, a high concept comedy that was just set up at Universal Pictures.
Charlie Hall, best known for his acting work in such shows as The Sex Lives of College Girls and Monster: The Ed Gein Story, is set to write the script ,while Max Tzannes, who is part of the filmmaking collective Dirty Shot Clean, is on board to direct.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the project is described as a high concept high school comedy with a sci-fi twist. Sources also indicate that the project’s story elements are perfectly in line with the Lord and Miller, who wrote and directed 21 Jump Street, which featured adult cops undercover in high school, and directed this year’s space-faring adventure sensation Project Hail Mary.
Lord and Miller will produce through their company Lord Miller’s first-look deal with Universal Pictures. The company’s Aditya Sood and Lucy Kitada will also produce. Ahkeyah Andrada, director of development for Lord Miller, brought the project in.
Tzannes, Jacob Souza and David San Miguel, who make up Dirty Shot Clean, will executive produce. Senior executive vp of production development Erik Baiers will oversee the project for the Studio.
Hall, who is the son of comedians Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall, has amassed a slew of acting credits, including Peacock’s Bel-Air and Freeform’s Single Drunk Female, in recent years. He can currently be seen in Apple+’s dark comedy series Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed opposite Tatiana Maslany. Hall has also been slowly building a writing resume, and is developing a scripted comedy series titled C-League for Hulu.
Tzannes has made several making award-winning shorts with his Dirty Shot Clean cohorts, with their feature debut being Et Tu, Shakespearean comedy-thriller starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Malcolm McDowell. Tzannes’ follow up feature was Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project, co-produced with Radio Silence. The movie caught Hollywood’s attention for its inventive meta take on an indie filmmaker making a found footage movie centered on Bigfoot (think a Christopher Guest mockumentary meets Blair Witch Project).
Hall is repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment. Tzannes is repped by UTA, Anonymous Content and Ziffren Brittenham.
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