Award-Winning Film SIDEWAYS to be Adapted into a Broadway Musical

Multiple award-winning Sideways author, Rex Pickett, has formed a joint venture with EFG-Renascence Productions to develop a Broadway musical based on his hit film, as well as utilize the intellectual property across multiple media platforms and brand extensions, it was jointly announced today by EFG-Renascence founder, Solomon J. LeFlore (Straight Outta Compton, Bringing It Home with Laura McIntosh on PBS), and his partner Susan Gee.

Released in 2004, the Alexander Payne-directed Sideways garnered over 350 awards, including the Academy Award for 'Best Adapted Screenplay', two Golden Globes for 'Best Picture' and 'Best Screenplay', and a record six Independent Spirit Awards, and has grossed over $500 million worldwide.

"Sideways is an incredible film that has never really been quarried for its franchise potential," commented LeFlore in making the announcement. "We plan to rectify that. With movie-to-Broadway musical adaptations so popular, this seems a natural first step."

"The movie is as beloved today as it was when it came out," added Gee. "The brand recognition of Rex's characters and story is off the charts."

Written by Pickett in collaboration with composer Anthony Adams (Primal Twang, Carnival of Souls) Sideways, The Musical is an already fully-realized libretto with Adams recording six original songs for its Broadway bid. Disney will have the first opportunity to be involved in the project given its now completed acquisition of 21st Century FOX and FOX Searchlight (producer of Sideways).

As a play, Sideways has been successfully staged four times. Most notably in 2012 at the Ruskin Group Theater in Santa Monica, where it shattered all records during its 6-month run. From there, it vaulted to The La Jolla Playhouse with Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys, Ain't Too Proud) directing, again breaking all records for a non-musical in the theater's 35-year history. The play will also see an upcoming Off-Broadway run next year from January through April at New York's Peccadillo Theatre Company's 165-seat Theatre At St. Clements, directed by Obie Award-winner, Dan Wackerman.

"The musical will take what was so winning and moving in the play and elevate it to new emotional heights," said Pickett. "Based on my novel, it celebrates the timeless Alexander Payne film while returning to the source material with added value from scenes that were not included in the movie."

Pickett is also finalizing his reboot/sequel to Sideways that centers on two millennials who embark on the now (in)famous journey of 'Miles' (Paul Giamatti) and 'Jack' (Thomas Haden-Church). Co-written with 28-year old tyro scribe Louis Falcinelli, Pickett's comedic drama,Sideways 2.0, focuses on how things have (or haven't) changed in the 15 years since the release of the iconic movie.

"It's the same picaresque journey as my original book, re-conceived in a more contemporary vein," explains Pickett.

Other current projects based on the I.P. include Going Sideways, an unscripted travel series hosted by Pickett that explores the international world of viticulture and vinification. A non-traditional program that showcases wine as the HUB that spokes out to the cultures of extraordinary wine-producing regions all over the world, Pickett kicks off his journey in Chile where he spent three months researching his novel, Sideways 3 Chile, and was stunned at how much great wine there was coming out of there and so many other far-flung countries.

"Going Sideways will take viewers on a globe-trotting excursion to the world of wine narrated in Rex's unique voice," explains Chilean co-producer Mario Velasco Carvallo.

Additionally, Pickett has two Sideways sequel novels in print that he's already adapted for the screen, as well as a bible for a television series he penned with Marco Mannone. His new original screenplay, Repairman, has Qasim Basir (A Boy. A Girl. A Dream: Love On Election Night from Samuel Goldwyn Films) attached to direct, with EFG-Renascence and John Campbell producing.

Pickett's new novel, The Archivist, a tragic love story intricately wrapped around a murder mystery set in the world of a fictional university's Special Collections & Archives, will be published by Blackstone Publishing this Fall.

He is repped by APA, and John Campbell at Jcintime Management.

Photo Credit: Robert Holmes