Rashida Jones To Direct ‘Playdate’ From Marie Østerbye’s Black List Script; Gloria Sanchez Producing

Matt Grobar
·2-min read

Rashida Jones (Sunny) is teaming with Gloria Sanchez on Playdate, the feature adaptation of Marie Østerbye’s original script, which landed at #2 on last year’s Black List. Jones will direct, with Jessica Elbaum and Will Ferrell producing for Gloria Sanchez.

In the film, a playdate erupts into full scale psychological warfare as two mothers confront the damage of childhood bullying, while their daughters engage in mind games of their own. UTA Independent Film Group reps rights to the project.

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Previously co-directing the Emmy-nominated documentary Quincy on her father, record producer Quincy Jones, Jones has also helmed episodes of series like Roar, #BlackAF, and Angie Tribeca, on which she also starred. Also a well-known actress, writer, and producer, she co-wrote the acclaimed rom-com Celeste and Jesse Forever, wrote on Black Mirror, helped conceive the story for Toy Story 4, and co-created the recent Hulu series The Other Black Girl. Most recently on the writing front, she was tapped to pen Tom & Jerry for Warner Bros Animation alongside Will McCormack and Michael Govier. Also recently exec producing and starring in Sunny for Apple TV+, she’ll soon be seen in an episode of Netflix’s upcoming season of Black Mirror.

Coming off of success with such acclaimed features as Theater Camp, Will & Harper and May December, Gloria Sanchez recently reteamed with Dead to Me‘s Liz Feldman on No Good Deed, a dark comedy series for Netflix starring Ray Romano, Lisa Kudrow and many more. The company also produced You’re Cordially Invited, Nicholas Stoller’s rom-com, starring Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, which premiered on Prime Video in January. Gloria Sanchez’s upcoming slate also includes Amazon’s upcoming comedy teaming Stoller with Ferrell and Zac Efron and an untitled live-action untitled Cinderella Evil Stepsisters film, to be written for Disney by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo.

Østerbye is a Danish screenwriter known for her work on all seasons of Netflix’s Rita, including the fifth and final, for which she acted as showrunner. She’s also written or consulted on TV shows such as The Nurse, The Rain, When the Dust Settles, Snow Angels and Splitting Up Together. She was also the co-creator and showrunner of Deliver Us, a dark psychological thriller awarded Best Television Series in Denmark and the Le Reflet d’Or for Best International Television Series, and has written features including the comedy Almost Perfect and the Swedish Netflix original Thank You, I’m Sorry. Østerbye also recently penned the script for Danish political thriller Kingmaker and is repped by Artists First.

Jones is represented by UTA and Schreck Rose Dapello. Gloria Sanchez Productions is repped by UTA, Mosaic, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.

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