Pandemonium gets 'Better'

Johnson to produce, Hubbard to adapt for screen

By CATHY DUNKLEY

Bill Mechanic's Pandemonium shingle has paid mid-six against high-six figures to option the rights to British novelist Carole Matthews' novel "For Better, For Worse."

Bridget Johnson ("As Good as It Gets") is attached to produce the project, which will be adapted for the screen by scribe David Hubbard.

"For Better, For Worse" is a whimsical, character-driven romantic comedy, in the vein of "Four Weddings and a Funeral," about a divorced woman who meets a man while boarding a plane to New York to attend her American cousin's wedding.

Pandemonium director of development Kerry Foster brought the project into the company and will oversee its development along with Mechanic.

Published in the U.K. last year by Headline, book will be published Stateside by HarperCollins in 2002 under the Avon imprint as part of an effort to introduce young British authors to the U.S. market. Matthews' next book, "A Minor Indiscretion," will be published in the U.K. Hubbard most recently inked a deal to pen the comedy/drama "Dad's New Life" for Jerry Bruckheimer Films that Bruckheimer will produce, with his wife Linda Bruckheimer and Susan Becker exec producing (Daily Variety, Aug. 21).

Scribe arrived on the scene with the spec script "Noel," which sold to Fox 2000 with Howard Rosenman attached to produce.

He also rewrote "Calcio" for Miramax Films and "Straight on Till Morning" for Fox and Chris Columbus' 1492 Pictures. Hubbard also co-wrote "Delivering Milo" with Diana Wagman. Pic, helmed by Nick Castle, stars Bridget Fonda and Albert Finney.

Hubbard is repped by Writers & Artists Agency, which packaged the book, repping Matthews in the deal with her book agent Helen Breitwieser at Cornerstone Literary. Hubbard's deal was also brokered by his attorney Alan Hergott.