New Line has reached "The Jump Off" point, preemptively snapping up Mike Elliot's pitch about kids in a hip-hop dance contest and setting it up with Mike Karz. Deal was for mid-six figures.
Project's centered on a self-assured choreographer who's forced to perform community service in a neighborhood where children are into hip-hop music. The choreographer overcomes his initial reluctance when he finds that the kids are changing his life and enters them into the "Jump Off" citywide dance competish.
Elliot, whose feature scripting credits include "Like Mike" and "Brown Sugar," said the idea originated from becoming aware of the affection of his younger daughter -- now 5 -- for hip-hop. "There have been lots of hip-hop movies since 'House Party' in 1990, but there's never been one that's about kids," he noted.
Elliot will script "The Jump Off." He's the former prexy of Source Entertainment, publisher of the Source magazine, and produced the hip-hop radio show "Street Heat" for Sony Worldwide Networks. He also penned "Just Right" for Queen Latifah.
Karz will produce through his New Line-based Karz Entertainment shingle, with Katherine Brown overseeing. Kathy Busby and Matt Moore will shepherd for the studio.
Karz Entertainment is producing "Honeymoon With Harry," written and directed by Paul Haggis, for New Line.
Contact Dave McNary at
dave.mcnary@variety.com