EXCLUSIVE: 2021 Academy Nicholl Fellow scribe Laura Kosann has been hired to adapt the female-driven comic book Mercy Sparx for MGM, The Picture Company and Assemble Media.
Created by Josh Blaylock, the title protag is a female demon sent from Hell to Earth on a mission, which she must complete while hiding among humans. On Earth, Mercy has an existential crisis and begins to see the gray area between good and evil. It forces her to choose her place within it and compromises her mission. The comic debuted ten years ago via Devil’s Due Publishing, and the IP has been seen by the studio as a franchise with an empowering female character at the center.
Jack Heller of Assemble is producing along with The Picture Company partners Alex Heineman and Andrew Rona. Comic creator Blaylock is serving as EP along with Assemble’s Scott Veltri. Heller and Assemble developed the script and controlled the rights to the property, then partnered with The Picture Company.
Both of Kosann’s screenplays, The Ideal Woman and From Little Acorns Grow, were on the annual 2021 Black List.
From Little Acorns Grow is set up at Innis Free and B for Effort. She is also currently developing several projects with Sarah Condon. Kosann wrote, directed and produced her debut feature film, The Social Ones, winning the Audience Award for Best Comedy at Cinequest.
Previously, Kosann co-founded the popular online lifestyle magazine and production company, The New Potato. Featuring chic content, playful stories and profiles on people like Lester Holt, Jodie Comer and Ato Blankston-Wood, it has been included in Vogue, Instyle and New York magazine. She has written, directed and produced video shorts for TNP that have been featured on both Access Hollywood and The Today Show, as well as large-scale video campaigns for brands like Kate Spade, Mattel and PepsiCo. Previously she worked at the Delacorte Theater and produced content for Showtime.
Kosann is represented by Chris Coggins at Heroes and Villains, Albert Lee and Stephanie Smalling at CAA and Jennifer Gray at Hansen Jacobson.
The Picture Company has several projects in the works with Studiocanal including the Kaley Cuoco movie Role Play, Baghead, the Liam Neeson thriller Retribution, and also Gunpowder Milkshake which debuted on Netflix last July. They also just acquired the podcast Shipworm in an auction for a feature adaptation.