Jacob Forman must be pissing a lot of aspiring screenwriters off. The guy is relatively new to the profession, but has sold off three spec scripts in a few short years. Forman’s latest screenplay sale became the catalyst for headaches amongst New Line, Fox Atomic and Universal as they were out-dollared by Paramount’s MTV films for handling rights to Handsome Devil.
The good news is, despite all the remakes and based ons, the spec script is alive and well. So too, apparently, are good agents.
As for story, if you didn’t get enough of the devil as a smooth, rough-talking lawyer trying to turn a young idealsitic fella into one of his minions on earth ala The Devil’s Advocate, you’re in luck. Handsome Devil‘s story is synopsitized as being The Devil’s Advocate, but for rich pre-school teenagers. And, unlike the lawer-ey shouting devil of Pacino’s Beelzebub, this devil is obviously handsome.
I’m coming off the misfortune of having seen The Covenant while snowed in at a cabin in the woods this weekend, so any interest I have in a project based on prep school cool kids and dark powers is at absolutely rock bottom. Obviously, quite a few studios see some promise on this one and Forman is quoted as saying the story couldn’t have a found a better home, so maybe I’m missing something here.
Experience however, says "I doubt it".