Selena Gomez’s Wondermind Teams With Fifth Season For First Project: ‘Baggage Claim’ With ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’s Yvonne Hana Yi Scripting

Mike Fleming Jr

26 November 2024 at 12:00 pm·2-min read

EXCLUSIVE: Fifth Season and Selena Gomez’s Wondermind have acquired the rights to Julianna Baggott’s high-concept short story Baggage Claim. They’ve set Yvonne Hana Yi (Mr & Mrs Smith) to write. The project marks the first scripted content to be produced by Wondermind, co-founded by Mandy Teefey and Selena Gomez. Creative development will be led by Wondermind’s Teefey, Gomez, and Jonathon Glucksman.

While the vehicle would seem a glove fit for Gomez after the acclaim she is drawing for Emilia Pérez, at this point she is limited to producing. Baggage Claim follows Bethany, a bored thirtysomething whose life is going nowhere. She’s stuck working in baggage claim, the musty basement where other people’s unhappy memories are stored after a costly procedure that promises them peace of mind. These memories are stored as smells in vials and can be reclaimed for up to thirty days. Bethany is a huffer, addicted to smelling other people’s baggage. It works out fine, until she falls in love with the memories of someone.

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Wondermind’s CEO & co-founder Teefey said: “We intentionally took our time to find the exact creative project we wanted to bring on as our first piece of scripted content. When this came across our desks, we knew it was something special. It felt perfectly aligned with our mission to tell deep stories that bring rich mental health narratives to the forefront. We’re committed to bringing compelling stories like this to life and are thrilled that Julianna felt connected to our approach to the storyline as well.”

Baggott is a bestselling novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet who has written more than 20 books. As founder of the production company Mildred’s Moving Picture Show, Baggott has over 20 projects in development, including Backwards, which sold to Netflix with Shawn Levy attached to direct; The Hider, which sold to Universal for Robert Downey Jr. and Team Downey; and Except You, co-written with Finneas Scott, which is in development with Maximum Effort at Fox. Her novel Which Brings Me to You, co-written with Steve Almond, is now a feature film starring Lucy Hale and Nat Wolff. Additional works by Baggott include The Memory Detective, The Anybodies, and Portals.

Yi’s credits include writing and co-producing Mr & Mrs Smith for Prime Video and writing Raising Dion for Netflix. She is also developing an original series, Hannah With The Dogs, for Amazon.

Baggott is represented by WME, and 3 Arts Entertainment and BFBST. Yi is represented by WME, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.

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