Paramount Players is moving ahead with Bo Burnham‘s teen comedy-drama “Gay Kid and Fat Chick,” hiring TV director Amy York Rubin to helm.
The project has been in development at Paramount since 2013, when it acquired Burnham’s script, which made the Black List of best unproduced screenplays that year. Burnham is also producing.
The story centers two high school outcasts, Maggie and Alex, who decide to bring justice to victims of torment and bullying by dressing up as “The Beaver” and “Gold Bitch,” and violently punishing whoever is accused of bullying their classmates. Maggie is the goalie of women’s field hockey team and Alex cheers for her as the school’s mascot, a beaver.
Paramount Players launched last June to ramp up production of movies derived from Viacom brands such as MTV and Nickelodeon. It’s developing an array of projects, including a big-screen adaptation of “Are You Afraid of the Dark?,” Taraji P. Henson’s “What Women Want,” a Gucci Mane biopic, and a movie based on bestselling author David Arnold’s young adult novel “The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik.”
Burnham, a veteran stand-up comedian, starred in “The Big Sick” and “Rough Night” last year. He made his feature directorial debut with “Eighth Grade,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
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Rubin has directed episodes of “Casual,” “SMILF,” “The Mick,” “Fresh Off the Boat,” “Grown-ish,” and “Alone Together.”
Rubin is represented by WME, Rise Management, and law firm Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum Morris & Klein. Burnham is repped by UTA and law firm Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof & Fishman. The news was first reported by Deadline.
