Shocking Cleveland Discovery Gets Hollywood Buzzing About ‘Stockholm, Pennsylvania’

Nikole Beckwith's script was a finalist for the Academy's 2012 Nicholl Fellowship and voted to the 2012 Black List

Hollywood is buzzing about Nikole Beckwith's "Stockholm, Pennsylvania," a movie script with eerie parallels to the story of three Cleveland women who were held captive for 10 years and reunited with their families this week.

The script, which was already a hot property as a finalist for the Motion Picture Academy's 2012 Nicholl Fellowship and voted to the 2012 Black List, "Stockholm, Pennsylvania" is based on Beckwith's stage play of the same name.

The script, which she is also attached to direct, concerns a young kidnapping victim who after 19 years, is reunited with the family she barely remembers. Longing for the life she remembers and the man who made her who she is, she struggles to feel "at home," forcing her mother to work harder than ever to "find" her daughter.

Also read: Missing Cleveland Women 911 Call — Hear It, and See the Rescue

The shocking events of this week in Cleveland have given the project even more urgency in Hollywood. Even before that, producers were lining up financing in advance of a fall shoot.

Greg Ammon of Uneac Films will produce with Beckwith's manager Dan Halsted of Manage-Ment.

Several Hollywood executives who attended the Little Black Book event at the Thompson Hotel were buzzing about the project on Wednesday night.

Also read: Missing Cleveland Women Rescuer Charles Ramsey Gets the Autotune Treatment, Finally (Video)

Earlier on Thursday, Beckwith was one of five writers accepted into the Sundance Institute's coveted 2013 Screenwriters Lab, which takes place from June 22-27. She'll workshop "Stockholm, Pennsylvania" with industry professionals including author/screenwriter Walter Mosley.

On Tuesday, police discovered three missing women — Amanda Berry, Michele Knight and Gina DeJesus — in the same Cleveland home. Ariel Castro, a 52 year-old former school bus driver, was arrested with his two brothers who did not live in the home with him. The victims' rescue is credited to Charles Ramsey, a neighbor who helped free Berry before she called police and alerted them to the other women being held captive.

Beckwith's plays have been developed with the Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons and the National Theatre of London, among others. She is represented by ICM Partners and Manage-Ment.

Comments