Alcon Entertainment is warming up a big- and small-screen take on self-help best-seller Chicken Soup for the Soul.
The company behind The Blind Side has acquired film and TV rights to the famed books from Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing.
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Brandon Camp (Love Happens) will write the film version’s screenplay, which is inspired by various characters and stories from the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Warner Bros. will release via Alcon’s output deal.
Although rare, it is not unheard of to bring self-help books to the big screen. He’s Just Not That Into You and What to Expect When You’re Expecting have both spawned film versions. TV plans for the property have not yet coalesced.
The Kerner Entertainment Co. and its principle Jordan Kerner (The Smurfs films) are producing the film alongside Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.
Ben Haber, Bill Rouhana and Tim Rouhana are executive producing, while Kate Moulene is co-producing.
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“The Chicken Soup for the Soul series lends itself perfectly to a fictional narrative that will inspire, entertain and intrigue,” Johnson and Kosove said in a statement.
Added Kerner: “I have so much respect for the brand Bill Rouhana has built and continues to build and accelerate. It is based on inspiration from true-life stories, an inspiration which is much needed in the world today, as well as a set of beliefs that I hold near and dear.”
Originally created by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen in 1993, Chicken Soup for the Soul has spawned a worldwide multichannel brand now stewarded by publisher Amy Newmark and expanded by Rouhana.
The deal was negotiated by Alcon’s Scott Parish and attorneys Scott Edel (for Alcon), Chuck Scott (for Kerner), Peter Dekom (for Chicken Soup for the Soul) and Paradigm’s Rand Holston, who reps both Kerner and Chicken Soup for the Soul.
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