Sony is trying to get a movie based on Mattel’s Barbie dolls off the ground, with less than two years to go before it hits theaters. But the studio still hasn’t figured out where it wants the story to go and has hired three writers to work on different scripts.
According to Deadline, the first draft is being written by Lindsey Beer. Bert Royal and Hilary Winston are writing two other drafts.
Beer has no produced scripts on her resume, although she was a member of the Transformers 5 writers’ room. She also co-wrote the long-gestating Short Circuit remake/reboot.
Winston was a writer on Community, Happy Endings and Bad Teacher, notes The Hollywood Reporter. She also wrote the book My Boyfriend Wrote A Book About Me.
Royal has the most film experience of the trio, as he wrote the 2010 Emma Stone hit Easy A. He also works on ABC Family’s Recovery Road.
The trio will be working off an original draft by Jenny Bicks (Sex and the City). Sony did hire Diablo Cody (Juno) to write another draft in March. However, THR’s sources said that Sony didn’t like what Cody came up with.
Sony has Barbie scheduled for June 2, 2017 and hopes that it will start a franchise.
In the meantime, Reese Witherspoon is developing a movie about Barbie’s creator.