Hollywood Reader

A vengeful Ojibwe Indian who coaches high school swimming; a businessman who tries to convince his neighbors that David Letterman has come to town; a recently retired minister who must deal with his addiction to Internet porn. All three quirky characters reside in fictional Weneshkeen, Mich., the setting for Steve Amick's debut novel, The Lake, the River & the Other Lake (Pantheon, 2005)—and may also be coming soon to a theater near you. Gary David Goldberg's UBU Productions has just optioned the rights to Amick's novel. Goldberg, who produced, directed and adapted Claire Cook's novel Must Love Dogs last year, instantly fell in love with the Garrison Keillor–esque tale, which he plans to adapt and direct. Michelle Kroes of Rabineau, Wachter, Sanford & Harris negotiated the deal on behalf of Artists Literary Group's Joe Veltre, who reps Amick for lit.

As evidenced by Fox 2000's recent optioning of John Grogan's Marley & Me, puppy tales are hot in Hollywood. The latest canine-centric manuscript generating talk among producers? Melinda Roth and Lt. Col. Jay Kopelman's From Baghdad with Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava, a true story about a puppy found by the Lava Dogs Unit during the battle of Fallujah. Illegally brought back to the U.S. compound, the valiant pooch was eventually smuggled out of Iraq by a band of unlikely heroes who (wouldn't you know it?) learn some unexpected lessons about life and death. Lyons Press plans an October publication. Roth and Kopelman are repped by Julie Castiglia of the Castiglia Literary Agency.

Not getting into Harvard is hardly the end of the world, although the heroine of Kaavya Viswanathan's How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Lifethinks it is. Intrigued by the teen's skinny envelope fears, DreamWorks has optioned the novel (due out in April from Little, Brown), with Contrafilm and Alloy Entertainment on board to produce. Frequent TV guest star Kara Holden (Angel; Gilmore Girls) will adapt.... Fortress Entertainment has optioned the rights to Maxx Barry's Syrup (Viking, 1999), a cheeky satire involving a marketing grad's attempts to sell a new cola product with the help of a lesbian marketing manager at Coca-Cola named 6. Barry will adapt his own work.

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