EXCLUSIVE: Husband-and-wife writing team Stephen Dyer and Jonah Lisa Dyer, who scripted the invention of the vibrator pic Hysteria that just played at the Tribeca Film Festival, have been hired by Sony Pictures to rewrite Pioneer Woman. That is the film adapted from Ree Drummond's blog/cookbook and memoir The Pioneer Woman: From Black Heels To Tractor Wheels that Sony optioned for producer Laura Ziskin Prods back in 2010, with Reese Witherspoon attached to play Drummond, and Robert Harling attached to write.
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The project languished when Ziskin passed away, and Steel Magnolias scribe Harling moved on when he got his TV series picked up. Then, Laurence Mark came aboard to produce with Pam Williams, who was president of Ziskin's production company. After Williams saw the Tanya Wexler-directed Hysteria at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival, she invited the scribes to pitch their vision for Pioneer Woman, and they got the job over other writers. Witherspoon is still attached. Hysteria's exhilarating run at Toronto climaxed in a distribution deal with Sony Pictures Classics.
Stephen Dyer also produced The Playroom, which played Tribeca, so they had two films at the Gotham festival, and a job waiting for them when they get back. The Dyers are repped by Original Artists.
Drummond's blog and her book detail how a spontaneous detour on a trip from L.A. to Chicago led her to Oklahoma, where she met the cowboy of her dreams and transformed from spoiled city girl to domestic ranch wife. Drummond has a large following for a blog she writes from the cattle ranch that covers everything from cooking to tips on home schooling. The film will explore the fantasy of trading big-city living for a wholesome, simpler life. The first time that Deadline revealed Sony was developing a movie on Drummond, the reaction from commenters was enormous. This is certainly a different movie from Fifty Shades Of Grey, but the subject matter seems to have hit the target with a wish-fulfillment tale aimed at adult women.
You can see what all the Hysteria buzz is about with the trailer below:
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