20th Lands Mother-Daughter Comedy Pitch From ‘Booksmart’s Sarah Haskins & Emily Halpern

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Studios has acquired an original feature pitch from Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern (Booksmart), enlisting Gloria Sanchez to produce.

While plot specifics under wraps, the project is described as a mother-daughter comedy with two strong female roles.

On the film side, Haskins and Halpern most recently penned 80 for Bradythe comedy starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno and Sally Field, which Paramount released last year. They’re perhaps best known for scripting Booksmartthe BAFTA and WGA Award-nominated 2019 comedy directed by Olivia Wilde.

Creators of the CBS show Carol’s Second Actstarring Patricia Heaton, as well as the ABC sitcom Trophy Wifethe pair are currently under an overall deal in television at CBS Studios. Nominated for an Emmy for their work on staff of ABC’s Black-ishthey’ve also written on series like Good Girls (NBC), The Mayor (ABC) and Imaginary Mary (ABC), to name a few. 

Previously in business with Haskins and Halpern on BooksmartWill Ferrell’s Gloria Sanchez is coming off of success with such acclaimed features as Searchlight’s Theater Camp and Netflix’s May December. Yesterday seeing Ferrell come aboard to star in GOLF, a Netflix comedy series he’s co-creating with Ramy Youssef and Josh Rabinowitz, the company earlier this year saw the streamer acquire its acclaimed documentary Will & Harper out of Sundance.

On January 30, 2025, Gloria Sanchez will debut its new feature comedy You’re Cordially Invitedstarring Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, on Prime Video. Check out a teaser at the link. Also in the works is No Good Deedits Netflix comedy from creator Liz Feldman.

In recent months, 20th has entered production on the thriller Eenie Meanieenlisted Jack Paglen to pen a new Maze Runner movie, launched development on a reboot of 9 to 5 with producer Jennifer Aniston, and set Lily James to star in a film inspired by the story of Bumble Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd. Most recently rolling out Kingdom of the Planet of the Apeswhich has thus far grossed over $141M worldwide, the studio will next release Alien: Romulus on August 16.

Haskins and Halpern are represented by UTA, Rise Management, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Gloria Sanchez is repped by UTA, Mosaic, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.