'40 Days of Dating' Movie Rights & Deal Bought By Warner Bros; Michael Sucsy to Direct [VIDEO]
Warner Bros. won the bidding war for Jessica Walsh and Timothy Goodman's project, 40 Days of Dating, according to a Deadline report.
Michael Sucsy (The Vow, Grey Gardens) will direct the film and Lorene Scafaria (Nick and Norah's Endless Playlist, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World) will pen the script. Michael Sugar, Joy Gorman and Bard Dorros will produce for Anonymous Content and Ashley Zalta will be a co-producer. Anonymous Content manages the director and scribe.
Walsh and Goodman started the experiment to explore what it took to make a relationship work in New York and if good friends could make for good lovers. Both Manhattanites struggled in past relationships and decided to see each other for 40 days, going on at least three dates a week and having strict rules for their relationship. The couple filled out a daily questionnaire, visited a couple's therapist once a week and promised not to date or have sex with anyone else. They documented everyday of this trial period and fans could follow their relationship on their website. The project ended with the couple parting ways.
Reports noted that even before the 40-day term was up, many producers were vying for this project. Reese Witherspoon, Josh Schwartz and Michael Costigan were assigned the project at one of several studios in the mix. After aggressively pursuing the project, Warner Bros finally landed the deal with Sarah Schechter. CAA brokered the deal.
Walsh and Goodman on what they learned from dating each other.
In a recent interview with Enstars, Walsh and Goodman spoke about the interest from Hollywood and how they'd like to see their project adapted.
"While the website was an excellent outlet to get it out to the public, we are interested in other adaptations of the project that might help deliver the story to a wider audience," Walsh said. "We spent very little money on this project, and had no intentions of this ever possibly leading to a film or tv deal. Therefore we have no intentions of selling out and taking an offer which might turn the story into a cheesy Hollywood rom-com."
"No matter what form the project takes (TV or movie) my main concern is that we keep the integrity of the original experiment," she added. "We are going to try our best to make sure that whatever is created keeps the honesty and authenticity of what we originally tried to do, and can hopefully touch people in the same way."
While Goodman seconded Walsh's opinion, he also didn't make any excuses about tapping into the project's potential for major commercial success.
"It's been exciting and it's been overwhelming, and of course we are excited about these inquiries that are coming from Hollywood, how could we not be?" he said. "But we want to make sure that we stay true to ourselves, whatever form it takes, it stays true to what we've created."
