Universal Taps Writers Lab Alum to Pen Sci-Fi Crime Thriller (Exclusive)

Daniel Casey has been tapped to write the untitled sci-fi crime thriller project being directed by Bobby Glickert, a former assistant to Fast Five helmer Justin Lin and a burgeoning filmmaker.

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Lin and Scott Stuber are producing.

The project marks the first feature gig for Casey, who just came out of the Reliance/Imagine Writing Lab. Created in Dec. 2010, the lab is a partnership between Imagine Entertainment and India’s Reliance Big Entertainment, the latter of which funded the program. Ten scribes were selected to work on pitches and scripts with each other. 

Universal picked up the untitled sci-fi crime project in June as a pitch, with an outline written by Glickert for him to direct. Details are being kept secret, but speaking to Heat Vision at the time of the acquisition, Lin said, “The tone and the gritty approach to the sci-fi genre taken here is something that hasn’t been seen in a while.” The project has been described as being in the vein of the Michael Mann crime thriller Heat and the Jason Bourne spy-action movies.

Universal creative exec Jay Polidoro is overseeing the project for the studio. Jon Mone overseeing for Stuber Pictures.

Casey, repped by WME and Circle of Confusion, first got Hollywood's attentiion when he made The Death of Michael Smith, which premiered at Slamdance in 2007 and won a jury prize. 

Email: Borys.Kit@thr.com

Twitter: @Borys_Kit