Now that Hollywood is finally getting back from its holidays, the deals and signings are beginning to trickle through. First out of the blocks is New Line, who have purchased a comedy pitch from writer Les Firestein, which is a variation on Indecent Proposal; a happy couple meet a very wealthy man, who offers them a large sum of money for one night of passion… with the fella.
The idea apparently comes from Les' wife. The story goes that the couple were at a dinner party, where a billionaire was also in attendance. "I told her she should marry him for a year, then come and get me when we were financially in the clear. She asked what if he wanted me," said the writer.
There's no director involved yet, but the producer is Jimmy Miller, who's already racked up Elf and Talladega Nights, and is currently gearing up the big screen adaptation of Get Smart with Steve Carell.
Despite the initial chuckle, Firestein has his work cut out for him if he's going to make this joke stretch for 90 minutes. Which is certainly not to say that it can't be done - the man's got a healthy body of TV comedy work on his resume, including sketch show In Living Colour, and The Drew Carey Show, and if Miller can get someone the calibre of Carell or Will Ferrell (or both) involved, this could be big.