EXCLUSIVE : Netflix and the Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground prevailed in a mid-six figure spec deal for Dyersville , a fact-based Chicago-set crime thriller. Will Hettinger wrote the script, and Grant Singer is near a deal to direct, so this is all moving on a fast track.
Dyersville became a hot spec that had five buyers circling. They asked to keep the plot under wraps, but I can report it is set in the Obamas’ old stomping grounds, in Chicago. Higher Ground’s Vinnie Malhotra and Mark Write will be the producers.
Hettinger has been a staff writer on the Netflix series Painkiller and the Starz series Hunting Wives . His script The Final Score made The Black List, but this is his first feature sale.
Higher Ground is coming off Leave The World Behind and Rustin .
Singer made his feature debut on Reptile, the crime drama that starred Benicio Del Toro and debuted last fall on Netflix. Singer came out of music videos, where he worked with the likes of Sam Smith, The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Travis Scott.