Universal and Imagine make 'Frenemy'

Rashida Jones to co-write adventure script

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Jones

Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment have acquired screen rights to "Frenemy of the State," a graphic novel miniseries created by actress Rashida Jones, who will write the script with Will McCormack.

Brian Grazer is producing for Imagine. Eric Gitter will be a producer for Closed on Mondays.

The adventure revolves around a young wealthy heiress who works undercover for the CIA. Jones co-wrote the original comic, published by Oni Press, with writers Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, and Jeff Wamester.

Jones currently stars on NBC's "Parks and Recreation." The daughter of composer Quincy Jones and "Mod Squad" star Peggy Lipton, Jones will be writing her second script with McCormack, an actor whose credits include ABC's "Brothers and Sisters" and USA's "In Plain Sight." They previously scripted "Celeste and Jesse Forever," a Jennifer Todd-produced pic set up at Overture to star Jones.

"Frenemy of the State" wasn't conceived by Jones as an acting vehicle for herself, she said.

"It's intended for a girl much younger than me, about age 20, an interesting age for girls as they make that scary jump to adulthood," she said. "She has lived a life of privilege, attended the best schools and learned every language, but her obsession with spying on exes gets her into trouble and she is recruited to be a spy in exchange for not going to prison. There is a comic element to it, this girl who is so conscious of social standing and wearing the right shoes, suddenly becoming responsible for these dangerous, life-threatening missions."

Gitter's Closed on Mondays just completed the Edgar Wright-directed "Scott Pilgrim" and is developing several films at Universal.