PARAMOUNT GETS 'HAPPY' WITH KEATON AND MARTIN (VAR)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

Paramount has made a pre-emptive buy in the high six-figures for "One Big Happy," a comic pitch from "Party of Five" creators Chris Keyser and Amy Lippman. Steve Martin and Diane Keaton are attached to star. John Goldwyn and Lorne Michaels will produce.

The concept is being kept under wraps, says Variety, but sources described "One Big Happy" as a family comedy about a couple and a family reconnecting amid various obstacles. Martin and Keaton would re-team after playing a married couple in the Charles Shyer-directed "Father of the Bride" and its sequel.

Keaton was last seen in the comedies "Mama's Boy" and "Mad Money." Martin next stars in "Pink Panther 2."

Keyser and Lippman are also writing "Food Fight" for Working Title and producer Michael London, and they rewrote "Here Comes the Bride" for Disney.

Separately, Keyser is planning to direct his script "Great Education" for producer Laurence Mark, and Lippman is scripting a feature adaptation of the Galt Niederhoffer novel "A Taxonomy of Barnacles" for Columbia. Variety notes she is also a consulting producer on HBO's "In Treatment."