Bregman/Baer buys 'Nothing'

By CLAUDIA ELLER

Deep-pocketed indie Bregman/Baer Prods. outbid 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures to acquire Steve Oedekerk's spec script "Nothing to Lose" for a reported $ 200,000 against $ 600,000.

The action comedy, to be produced by company partners Martin Bregman, Willi Baer and Michael S. Bregman, is about a frustrated corporate executive who kidnaps an armed robber to the Arizona desert after finding his boss in bed with his wife.

An unlikely alliance develops between the two and they return to L.A. to seek revenge on the boss.

Bregman/Baer will develop the project as a starring vehicle for John Leguizamo, who stars in Disney's Memorial Day release "Super Mario Brothers" and appears with Al Pacino and Sean Penn in Universal's "Carlito's Way," directed by Brian De Palma and produced by Bregman, Baer and Bregman.

The indie company's West Coast development VP Dan Jinks discovered the spec script and had the William Morris Agency immediately fax the manuscript to his New York-based bosses to read.

Jinks said "Nothing to Lose" is a vehicle for two leading males, so the company will look to cast "a major" comic star opposite Leguizamo.

While Bregman/Baer has a domestic distribution deal with Universal Pictures, the company is funding the project out of its own coffers of more than $ 200 million in development/production coin.

The deal was negotiated by Oedekerk's William Morris agents Rob Carlson and Lanny Noveck, with an assist from the writer's manager Scott Howard.

Oedekerk is a staff writer on "In Living Color." In the feature arena he scripted and starred in Greycat Films' upcoming indie release "High Strung."