Department M Lands Rights To Book ‘Send Me: The True Story Of A Mother At War’

Justin Kroll
·3-min read

EXCLUSIVE: Department M, the independent studio founded by Mike Larocca and Michael Schaefer, has acquired the film rights to the acclaimed nonfiction book Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War, by Marty Skovlund Jr. and Joe Kent and tapped Jessica Goldberg to adapt the script. Department M will produce the feature adaptation alongside Patrick Newall.

The book follows Shannon Kent’s story, who served as an “operator” in the U.S. Military, which of the 1.3 million active-duty service members in the U.S. military, only a tiny fraction are selected in the role. Kent was one of the first women to serve at this level and was widely recognized as one of the best. She was assigned to a unit so secretive that its name can’t even be printed here, where she worked clandestinely to hunt the most wanted terrorists in the world, and in the end, made the ultimate sacrifice.

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The book is her heroic life story, revealing the truth of both her work and the challenges she faced while trying to raise a family with her husband Joe, himself a Special Forces soldier. He and Shannon met in a war zone, their love forged during a special operations training course, their dedication spanning multiple combat deployments and the birth of their two boys. It is the legacy of an extraordinary woman who rose to the apex of the military, working with the most elite forces in the world, lifting the veil from the life of a Special Forces family to share their duty, sacrifice, and humanity.

Goldberg most recently wrote the screenplay with Sebastian Lelio for Leilo and FilmNation’s Voyagers. She also created Hulu drama series The Path, starring Aaron Paul, which ran for three seasons; wrote and executive produced Netflix’s sci-fi-drama series Away, starring Hilary Swank and Josh Charles; and wrote and produced NBC’s Emmy-nominated Parenthood. She is represented by UTA.

Skovlund is a former Army Ranger and an experienced conflict reporter who has reported on assignment from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ukraine in addition to embedding with the U.S. military around the world.
Joe Kent is Shannon Kent’s husband and the father of their two children. Over the course of his twenty-year military career, he served as an Army Ranger and a Green Beret as well as in other classified special operations units.

Department M upcoming slate includes The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, from highly acclaimed Mexican writer-director Michelle Garza Cervera, which is a remake of the classic 1992 thriller. They also have Blood On Snow, starring Tom Hardy and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, directed by Emmy winner Cary Joji Fukunaga, and adapted by Tony Award winner Ben Power from the crime-thriller novel by Jo Nesbø, whose books have sold over 50 million copies worldwide.

Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War is published by Harper Collins. The film adaptation deal was brokered by CAA and Larry Weissman Literary.

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