Glendale, Calif. - DreamWorks Animation has announced the acquisition of writers Alan Schoolcraft & Brent Simons’ superhero send-up “Master Mind,” which was brought to the company by Lara Breay at Red Hour Films, the production entity of producing partners Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld. Red Hour will collaborate with DreamWorks Animation in developing and producing the project.
DreamWorks Animation veterans Cameron Hood and Kyle Jefferson make their feature-film directorial debut with “Master Mind.” “Master Mind” will mark the first time Stiller collaborates with DreamWorks Animation in a production capacity, having previously voiced Alex the lion in “Madagascar” and in the upcoming “Madagascar: The Crate Escape.”
Schoolcraft & Simons will write the film, with DreamWorks Animation’s Chris Kuser and Red Hour’s Lara Breay overseeing development.
“Master Mind” is a satirical send-up of the superhero genre, built around the story of a super villain who loses his joie de vivre after accidentally killing his archrival, Uberman, in the opening scene of the movie.
Writers Schoolcraft and Simons are represented by Dan Rabinow at ICM. Red Hour is represented by UTA’s Sharon Sheinwold and directors Hood and Jefferson by the William Morris Agency and Management 360. Cameron Hood and Kyle Jefferson made their animation directing debut with “First Flight.” Both natives of Toronto and graduates of Sheridan College in Ontario, they began their professional careers together at DreamWorks working on The Prince of Egypt.
Hood and Jefferson continued at the studio, contributing to a variety of animated films such as: The Road to El Dorado, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Shrek, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, and Shark Tale.