LAS VEGAS -- Paramount Pictures and producer Alan Ladd Jr. paid just under $1 million for screen rights and screenwriting fees to "First Wives Club" author Olivia Goldsmith's next novel, "The Bad Boys Club."
In a deal that came together quickly on Wednesday, Paramount chairman Sherry Lansing, whose studio scored a highly profitable hit with "Wives," acted quickly with Ladd to take the Goldsmith novel off the table, based on a verbal pitch from the author.
Where "First Wives Club" concerned revenge-seeking ex-spouses, the new novel focuses on a guy who is so nice to women that he can't seem to keep one. He sets out to change his luck under the tutelage of a group of male friends who teach him to be a heel to women so he won't be taken for granted.
The sale was brokered by CAA's Bob Bookman and Goldsmith's literary agent, Nicholas Ellison. Harper Collins will publish "Bad Boys Club."
Her new novel, "Switcheroo," was optioned and is in active development at New Line.
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