Assistant Principal's Vampire Script Set For Production

By Wiretap Staff

Matt Deller, an assistant principal at Eleanor Roosevelt high school in Southern California, has just won the screenwriting lottery.

Mark Amin�s Sobini Films and Payam Films announced today that they will begin production on Deller's vampire script MANHATTAN UNDYING. The film will be directed by acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Babak Payami.

Before becoming a vice-principal, Deller was a writer for the video game NEVERWITNER NIGHTS 2. He left the game industry for a career in education and to raise a family. While creating the country's first high school "video game design" class, Deller shifted his own writing concentration to screenwriting.

MANHATTAN UNDYING is about a beautiful vampire who commissions an artist to paint her so she can see herself for the first time. She is unaware that the artist is dying and desperately working to create his last masterpiece that will give him artistic immortality.

Aside from MANHATTAN UNDYING, Deller has several other completed scripts under his belt. The true-story sports drama 'BREAK' was a Nicholls Screenwriting Finalist. THE KNIGHT PROPER is a fantasy action-adventure with the following logline: "A disgraced knight battles to save a Kingdom from cretain destruction at the hands of his long-lost daughter... now a powerful Witch, leading an army of undead warriors."

Deller is repped by Scott Michael Leddy at Empirical Management. Leddy discovered and signed Deller through ScriptShark's Screenplay Scouting program.

Along with directing MANHATTAN UNDYING, Payami will also produce the film through his Payam Films banner along with Amin and Sobini's Cami Winikoff and David Higgins. Charles Wachsberg, co-owner of Payam Films, will also finance and executive produce. Casting is set to commence immediately, with the financed film scheduled for production in the fall. The project is being shepherded by Sobini's Tyler Boehm.

Payami is an Iranian director living in Canada who won the Silver Lion Special Director�s Award at the Venice Film Festival for helming SECRET BALLOT (released by Sony Pictures Classics in the US). The film was also nominated for the Golden Lion among numerous other international acclaims.

Payami says, "The dazzling uniqueness of our vampire is that despite her powers, she develops a taste for humanity through the struggles of a dying artist and surrenders immortality to become human for love."

"Manhattan Undying is a fresh take on the vampire mythology. Babak's artistic vision is bringing together a remarkable team to bring this project to life," said Amin.

Already on board the project is Director of Photography Daniele Nannuzzi (EMPIRE) and Costume Designer Milena Canonero (Academy Award� Winner for BARRY LYNDON, CHARIOTS OF FIRE and MARIE ANTOINETTE). Casting will be handled by Mary Vernieu (BLACK SWAN, THE WRESTLER).

Mark Amin�s Sobini Films productions include THE PRINCE & ME, PEACEFUL WARRIOR, based on the best-selling motivational book; and the upcoming ZORRO: REBORN with 20th Century Fox. Amin�s past credits include FRIDA, distributed by Miramax Films, which garnered six Academy Award nominations.