Senator elects Ellis pic

Jarecki to helm 'Informers'

By MICHAEL FLEMING

'The Informers'

Senator Entertainment has optioned screen rights to Bret Easton Ellis short-story collection "The Informers." Nicholas Jarecki will direct a script he's writing with Ellis. Senator's Marco Weber produces.

Ellis' books "American Psycho," "Less Than Zero" and "The Rules of Attraction" all were adapted into films, but "The Informers" is the first the author took a hand in adapting. Ellis will exec produce with Brian Young and Jere Hausfater.

Published in 1995, the collection of loosely connected short stories captures a week in L.A. in 1983, featuring movie execs, rock stars, a vampire and other morally challenged characters in adventures laced with sex, drugs and violence.

Project is the first for Senator since the company was re-established as a production and financing entity backed by Berlin-based Senator. Weber, who ran Atlantic Streamline, partners in the company with Senator chief exec Helge Sasse.

Jarecki, who directed "The Outsider," a docu about director James Toback, hunted down Ellis after reading the book. The author invited him to the Chateau Marmont to hear his ideas, and Jarecki wound up staying a month and writing a draft with Ellis. They brought it to Weber, who produced "Igby Goes Down" and was looking for another gritty drama.

Weber said production will begin in early 2007, shooting entirely in Los Angeles. Depending on the budget, Senator will either finance it or make distribution sales before beginning production.