Producers Rick Gitelson and Jeff Wynne, pictured below with Rosario Dawson, have optioned Jeffrey R. Field’s script, “Pop Hit,” which was one of 129 semifinal scripts from a record 7,197 submitted this year to the Motion Picture Academy’s Nicholl Fellowships on Screenwriting.
The story follows a washed-up, one-hit wonder hired to write a song for a teenage mega pop star who then turns to sabotage when the teen idol steals the songwriter’s planned comeback song, the producers told TheWrap.
The script is represented by Sue Giordano of the Hudson Agency and is out to production companies.
Wynne’s own career started when he became a quarter finalist for the Nicholl Fellowship. He’s since developed features, written TV movies and children’s television programming. Emmy and WGA Award-winning producer Gitelson recently won a third Environmental Media Award for his Disney Channel series “Handy Manny.”
Both Wynne and Gitelson have served as readers for the Nicholl Fellowships for a number of years. “I’ve read thousands of submissions to the competition,” Wynne said. “When I read ‘Pop Hit’ this year I thought it was one that had the makings of a hit movie.”
