Warner Bros. buys into 'Murders and Acquisitions'

Just 72 hours after signing a couple-year, first-look creating pact at Warner Bros., KatzSmith Prods. partners Seth Grahame-Cruz and David Katzenberg have setup their first project beneath the new deal, as WB has bought Jonathan W. Stokes' dark comedy script "Killings and Purchases." Story contrasts the area of high-stakes finance with this particular of high-listed hitmen. Both cell phone industry's collide when an ousted Boss decides to use an assassin to eliminate the organization raider who stole his company. There's no director attached to the project yet, but Katzenberg and Grahame-Cruz will produce under their KatzSmith banner. Sarah Schechter will oversee "Killings and Purchases" for Warners. Project came to exist after Grahame-Cruz discovered that Stokes authored "El Gringo" for Joel Silver's shingle Silver Pictures. The duo have known each other since the first grade, after they were close pals in Connecticut. After losing touch for just two decades, they reconnected, which introduced to Stokes giving KatzSmith an early on think about the script. Stokes' other spec script, "Blood stream Mountain," is presently getting buzz since it helps to make the models at art galleries. While rights continue being worked out, KatzSmith is predicted to create a follow-up to Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice" for WB, which attracted on Grahame-Cruz to use round the script for Burton's approaching The Actor-kaira Pitt-starrer "Dark Shadows." KatzSmith may also be creating the Fox comedy "From Mia With Love," which Katzenberg is installed on direct in the script he and Grahame-Cruz written with Kevin Chesley and Bryan Shukoff. Katzenberg and Grahame-Cruz are repped by WME and Morris Yorn Barnes Levine, while Stokes is repped by UTA and Brooklyn Weaver at Energy Entertainment. Contact Rob Sneider at rob.sneider@variety.com