Stern, Weiss moving 'Eloise' to bigscreen

Scribes tapped by Itsy Bitsy, DiNovi to adapt kidpic

By VANESSA TORRES

The writing team David Stem and David Weiss ("The Rugrats Movie") will give a bigscreen voice to "Eloise," as the scribes have been tapped by Itsy Bitsy Entertainment and Di Novi Pictures to adapt the first in a series of films based on Kay Thompson's books.

The books concern a 6-year-old girl living atop Gotham in the Plaza Hotel with a nanny and an assortment of pets as companions. Rather than simply following plotlines of the books, however, the scripters will focus on developing the voice of the character, according to the companies.

The North American marketer of British import "Teletubbies," Itsy Bitsy acquired the film, TV and merchandising rights to the "Eloise" franchise this summer for a $3 million-plus pricetag, with the agreement that Di Novi would produce a series of the features. Di Novi's producing credits include "Message in a Bottle," "Practical Magic" and "Edward Scissorhands."

In addition to the "Rugrats" feature, Stem and Weiss have screenplay credits on its follow-up, "Rugrats in Paris -- The Movie." The two have collaborated on several TV projects as well, including "Mission Hill" for Castle Rock Entertainment, "Cybill" for Carsey Werner and the "Rugrats" animated series for Klasky Csupo/Nickelodeon.

The writers' "Eloise" deal was negotiated by Stephen Marks, head of the literary department at Metropolitan Talent Agency.

First published by Simon & Schuster in 1955, Thompson's "Eloise" instantly garnered attention from both children and adults. Titles after the initial publication include "Eloise in Paris," "Eloise at Christmastime" and "Eloise in Moscow."

The Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Co. was founded in 1995 by prexy, chairman and CEO Kenn Viselman. The "Eloise" deal marks the company's first foray into feature films.