New Line Picks Up Secret Horror Pitch from 'Friday the 13th' Writers (Exclusive)

Mark Swift, left, and Damian Shannon
New Line has picked up an untitled and top-secret horror pitch from Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, the writers behind the company’s 2009 reboot of Friday the 13th and 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason.

Chris Bender, J.C. Spink and Jake Weiner of New Line-based BenderSpink are producing.

No details of the pitch are being revealed, but it is described as a potential franchise starter. It is not part of the microbudget and found-footage trend.

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Dave Neustadter and Walter Hamada are overseeing for New Line.

BenderSpink is gearing up for the Aug. 7 release of We’re the Millers, the comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis.

Shannon and Swift are New Line favorites, having worked on adaptations of comic books Hawaiian Dick and Power and Glory, both set up at the company. The duo is repped by UTA, Magnet Management and McKuin Frankel.

Utah writers invited to enter competition

The deadline for entering the 2013 Utah Original Writing Competition is 5 p.m. Friday, June 28.
The competition identifies and awards Utah writers for works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in the form of short stories, essays, poems, and full-length manuscripts for readers of all ages. Submissions must be original works. They cannot be published or accepted for publication at the time of entry. Manuscripts will be reviewed in a blind process by five to seven judges selected from outside of Utah.
Past award winners have included Utah Poet Laureates. There is no entry fee for the competition, and it is open to all Utah residents.