EXCLUSIVE: Stampede, the indie media company formed by former Warner Bros president Greg Silverman, continues to scoop up book deals for its growing slate. It has just acquired movie rights to Devastation Class, an unpublished sci-fi novel co-written by filmmakers Glen Zipper and Elaine Mongeon.
The novel follows an unlikely group of young cadets forced to mutiny aboard a revolutionary starship to save themselves from an annihilation force of invading aliens. When their escape transports them to a reality they don’t recognize and reveals unimaginably terrifying secrets, they must fight their way home to save not just everyone they love but also humanity itself. Standing in their way is an insurmountable enemy, a mystery eons in the making and the fabric of time and space itself.
“Zipper and Mongeon have created an incredible cast of brave young characters and a fresh approach to the classic space opera for a new generation,” said Silverman, Stampede’s founder and co-chairman. “We’re thrilled to be bringing this story to the screen.”
Publishing rights to Devastation Class are being shopped now by Charlie Olson at Inkwell Management. Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Lindsay Williams of Gotham Group, which reps Zipper and Mongeon, made the movie rights deal with Amy Nickin and Lee Goldberg of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz and Stampede’s JP Sarni and Anna Pinar.
“Having bonded over films like Star Wars, Alien and The Last Starfighter long before we ever dreamed of writing a novel, the opportunity to bring Devastation Class to the big screen as a mind-bending space epic is truly the realization of our dreams,” Zipper and Mongeon said. “We couldn’t be any more excited.”
Stampede has been sealing book-to-film rights deals since Silverman launched the company with Gideon Yu, the former CFO of Facebook and YouTube and San Francisco 49ers co-owner. The company already has landed the female-driven horror thriller This Red Fire by Nicolina Torres, James Riley’s young adult fantasy series Revenge of Magic, Minnie Darke’s twisted romantic comedy Star-Crossed and Kevin Wignall’s upcoming novel When We Were Lost.
Zipper, whose producing credits include the Oscar-winning documentary Undefeated, Mike Judge’s Showtime series Tales From the Tour Bus and George Harrison: Living in the Material World, recently inked a deal with JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot to produce documentary series. He is repped by CAA and Gotham Group.
Mongeon, wrote and directed the short film Good Morning via the inaugural Warner Bros Emerging Film Directors Workshop, was an associate producer on Magic Mike XXL and Amazon’s Red Oaks while working for Gregory Jacobs and Steven Soderbergh. She is with APA, Gotham Group and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.
