DIABLO CODY SELLS SCRIPT, MAKES WB DEAL FOR TWO MORE

Diablo Cody has got the big mo going. Mandate Pictures will finance, develop and handle worldwide distribution rights for JUNO, the screenwriting debut of Minneapolis-based writer. JUNO is the story of a unique teenage girl forced to make difficult, bizarre and sometimes humorous decisions regarding an unplanned pregnancy by promising the unborn child to a troubled couple.

Creative executive Jim Miller brought the dark comedy JUNO into Mandate and will oversee its development. Mandate is currently in production on Mark Forster's STRANGER THAN FICTION staring Will Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal and Wes Craven's RED EYE. Mason Novick, producer of RED EYE is credited with discovering Cody after reading her internet blog. Novick will produce JUNO while Mandate's Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane will executive produce.

Cody is a blogger who maintained a frank and open running journal titled Pussy Ranch while working as a stripper in Minneapolis clubs and phone sex operator. She has written a manuscript called "Candy Girl" that will be published next year by Gotham. In the past year, Cody was hired to write for City Pages where she assumed the title of TV critic. Her blog Pussy Ranch has become part of the City Pages blogshere.

In a recent post on Cody's blog, she characterized her blog jottings in these words, "I know you visit the Pussy Ranch because you've come to rely on me for sick, offensive content, gratuitious use of the word 'cunt'..." and vamp Iowan succeeds in turn to wily entertain her audience with bawdiness and shock. Yet, Cody also exudes a quick and caustic wit and a keen eye for unusual repartee that makes her self-revealing blog nakedly stand out from the millions like her on the internet.

A two picture deal with Warner Bros. Pictures (WB) followed, the first 'Untitled Cody Drama" carries the log line "...centers on a group of twentysomethings at the crossroads of their lives." Does that tag sound vaguely familiar and bromidic? The two script WB deal includes a second blind script.

In an July 8th interview with City Pages writer Dylan Hicks, Cody stated, "The best part about Hollywood is that they pay you to be vague."

Well, let's just say they pay Diablo... kick it girl!