Fitzgerald stories optioned

Jerry Rapp adapting for the screen

By WINTER MILLER

More Articles:

Magnolia picks up Marsh's 'Wire'

MPAA, Mexico target DVD pirates

Will Oscar show grab great ratings?

ION pays up for 'Boston Legal'

Reynolds, will.i.am join 'Wolverine'

Coen's 'Evening' goes Off Broadway

F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Pat Hobby Stories" has been optioned by Washington Square Films and Minetta Street Prods. joint shingle the Pixsmith Venture. Published a year before Fitzgerald's death in 1940, these were accounts of his experiences as a screenwriter on the lot of a major film studio, billed as "his last word from his last home."

The Fitzgerald estate has been sticky about giving rights in the past, but after two years, Pixsmith prevailed. Scribe Jerry Rapp ("Mojave Phone Booth") adapted for screen.

Washington Square is headed by producers Amy Hobby and Russ Stratton, whose credits include "Old Joy," "Adrift in Manhattan" and "Spalding Gray: The Last Monologue." Minetta Street is headed by Jerry Ziman and Willard Morgan, whose current projects include the plays "Throat" and "Zarmen."