Hot Sci-Fi Movie Project 'Rosa' Lands at Fox (Exclusive)

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20th Century Fox is in final negotiations to pick up Rosa, a sci-fi project based on an animated short from Jesus Orellana, a comic book artist who not only created the short but will direct the live-action feature movie.

The pick-up shows the level of heat Spain-based Orellan has generated with his short, which hit the web the second week of Nov. By the end of the month, he had agency representation with Verve and last week was pitching the project to studios.

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What is noteworthy is that the short, made from his home computer in Barcelona on a next-to-nothing budget, is the only thing that Orellana has directed. It was made to show his vision for a live-action project he hoped to direct. Consider the impending deal mission accomplished.

Fox-based Simon Kinberg and his Genre Films banner will produce with Scott Glassgold and Raymond Brothers of I Am Entertainment, which also reps Orellan. A scribe will be hired to write the script, which will build on the storyline and the characters of the short. Orellana had a roadmap for the feature story as part of his pitch presentation.

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Rosa is described as “an epic sci-fi short film that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where all natural life has disappeared. From the destruction awakes Rosa, a cyborg deployed from the Kernel project, mankind’s last attempt to restore the earth’s ecosystem. Rosa will soon learn that she is not the only entity that has awakened and must fight for her survival.”

Email: Borys.Kit@thr.com

Twitter: @Borys_Kit