EXCLUSIVE: Cross Creek Pictures has acquired Drudge, the Black List spec script by Cody Brotter about internet reporter Matt Drudge’s rise to power. ’
Cross Creek’s Tyler Thompson will produce and Ryan Smith of Streamline will be exec producer.
Drudge’s tip sheet and aggregator The Drudge Report came to power in the in the 1990s as he broke President Bill Clinton’s dalliance with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. While Clinton first famously denied the story, Drudge revelations of evidence such as the semen-stained dress forced Clinton to cop to the embarrassing affair. It forever changed the media and political landscapes, and Drudge did it all from his desktop computer in a one-bedroom apartment in Hollywood. His Drudge Report remains an influential site.
Cross Creek, which recently set the animated musical Melody with Katy Perry starring and Jeremy Zag directing his creation, also has the upcoming Christian Bale-Scott Cooper film The Pale Blue Eye, which Cross Creek is financing and producing. It’s the producer/financier’s second recent foray into politically-themed film, after the Aaron Sorkin-directed The Trial of the Chicago 7.
After his Drudge script made a splash around town, Brotter has gone on to write and develop undisclosed features and series, including development on separate projects with Pete Davidson, Mike Judge, Amy Pascal, Frank Marshall, and Sue Kroll.
Cross Creek is repped by CAA. Brotter is repped by ICM Partners, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Ziffren Brittenham.
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