McG’s Wonderland Sound & Vision and Red Crown Prods. are calling “School of Fear” into session, partnering on a feature adaptation of the children’s book series by Gitty Daneshvari.
McG, who is producing, will have a first look to direct. The first book in the trilogy was published in 2010 and follows four children, all suffering from phobias, who are sent to the exclusive yet secretive school where they conquer their fears and survive a perilous final test.
Mary Viola and Scott Fischer will also produce for Wonderland with Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Daniel Crown and Riva Marker producing for Red Crown. Mike Saunders and Daneshvari will exec produce.
“We’re a bunch neurotic New Yorkers so Gitty’s story really resonated with us,” Marker told Variety. “We get a ton of submissions but we think this has franchise potential.”
Daniel Mackey is penning the script. He recently wrote the second season of Wonderland’s “Aim High” series.
Graham King acquired feature rights to “School of Fear” in 2007 prior to publication and set up the project via his first-look at Warner Bros. After the rights lapsed, Red Crown came on board and brought the project to Wonderland and McG.
Wonderland is currently in production on Justin Reardon’s “A Many Splintered Thing,” starring Chris Evans and Michelle Monaghan and McG is in pre-production on “Three Days to Kill.”
Red Crown sold family drama “What Maisie Knew,” starring Julianne Moore and Alexander Skarsgard, to Millennium Entertainment following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Mackey is managed by Brooklyn Weaver of Energy Entertainment. McG is repped by WME and Management 360.
