New Line nabs Kultgen's 'Badass'

Flynn, Novick, Vinson producing comedy

By DAVE MCNARY

New Line has snapped up Chad Kultgen's spec "Dan Mintner: Badass for Hire" for $500,000 against $1 million and set up the project with Beau Flynn, Tripp Vinson and Mason Novick producing. 

Purchase is the first for New Line since the mini-major was scaled down and absorbed into Warner Bros.

Story centers on a man who's earned every military award and discovers that his billionaire mentor and father figure has been kidnapped.

Kultgen previously sold "Burt Dickenson: The Most Powerful Magician on the Planet Earth" to New Line; Ben Stiller and JC Spink are producing. Kultgen's book "Average American Male" was optioned by Fox Atomic, and he's adapting it for Betty Thomas to produce and direct.

Flynn's a partner at ContraFilm and a producer alongside Vinson on "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D." Novick was a producer on "Juno" and "Jennifer's Body" at Fox Atomic.