Columbia closes deal for 'School'
Rodriguez, Ohlson book gets film makeover
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In a mid-six-figure against seven-figure deal, Columbia closed a deal Friday night for screen rights, just as the Random House-published book by Deborah Rodriguez and Kristin Ohlson hit The New York Times bestseller list. Several studios bid on the book.
Rodriguez, a divorced hairdresser from Michigan with two kids, decided to give her life a complete makeover and headed to Afghanistan in 2002, shortly after the Taliban had been toppled. There she found women who were eager to come out from under the veils they'd been forced to wear.
She opened a beauty school, with donations from American beauty companies and other benefactors, and tried to mesh in a culture that was still male-dominated.
Studio and Stoff sparked to the story as a way to tell the story of war-torn Afghanistan's attempt to recover from the devastating rule of the Taliban, through Rodriguez's personal journey. CAA brokered the deal.
Stoff is producing the Will Smith-starrer "I Am Legend" and "The Night Watchman," the David Ayer-directed film that stars Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker.
