Project X Entertainment Acquires Feature Rights To Mia Sosa Bestseller 'The Worst Best Man'
DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE: Project X Entertainment, production/financing company formed last year by William Sherak, Paul Neinstein, and writer-director-producer James Vanderbilt, has optioned film rights to Mia Sosa's romantic comedy The Worst Best Man.
Published in February by HarperCollins imprint Avon Books, the novel is twist on the classic enemies-to-lovers theme. Afro-Latinx heroine Carolina Santos is a driven, successful owner of a wedding planning company whose own marriage was derailed by a runaway groom. Well past the drama, and with her career in high gear, Lina suddenly finds herself teamed up with the brother of the man who left her at the altar as they pursue a golden business opportunity.
Vanderbilt, Sherak, and Neinstein will produce and PXE exec veep Nicole Tossou will oversee and be executive producer. Co-producing will be the author and Anastasia C. Perez Ternant, latter a fan of the book while she interned at PXE, who suggested it as a movie.
"We're so excited that our first venture in the rom-com space will be bringing The Worst Best Man to life," said PXE's Tossou. "As a lover of rom-coms, I've been enjoying the recent resurgence of the genre refreshed with more diverse characters. And as a black woman, it's not too often that I see people who look like me as the main love interest in these stories. Mia's strong female characters infused with such wit, humor, and relatability made this so hard to put down and such an easy 'yes' for us."
Sosa added, "I'm thrilled that Project X has chosen to adapt my book – they are committed to sharing new voices and stories, and believe, as I do, that audiences are hungry for more content featuring strong leading roles for women of color. The heroine of The Worst Best Man is a first-generation Brazilian American, and the book explores the ways in which her own successes (and failures) are amplified because she feels she has so much to live up to."
The author is repped by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency and UTA.
PXE is currently in production on the Scream reboot for Spyglass Media Group and Paramount Pictures
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Written by James Vanderbilt, the pic follows estranged siblings (Krasinski and Portman) who partner on a global heist to find the mythological Fountain of Youth. They must use their knowledge of history to follow clues on an epic adventure that will change their lives — and possibly lead to immortality.
John Krasinski & Natalie Portman To Star In Guy Ritchie's 'Fountain Of Youth' For Apple And Skydance
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