By Mike Fleming Jr | Tuesday May 14, 2013 @ 10:44am PDT

EXCLUSIVE: WME has signed the screenwriting team of Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith and Karen McCullah, whose breakout came off the spec 10 Things I Hate About You and whose other credits include Legally Blonde, The Ugly Truth, The House Bunny and She’s The Man. They’ve established themselves as the go-to chicks for chick fare, and they are currently scripting The Expendabelles, the female spinoff of Millennium Films’ The Expendables franchise. They also scripted the romantic comedy The Panic Zone, which is out to cast. Smith has separately helmed two shorts sponsored by Glamour Magazine, both of which starred Anna Faris. She was also exec producer of Whip It! McCullah wrote and produced Crazy Kind Of Love, which opens May 31. Both are novelists. The scribes are leaving Paradigm as their longtime agent Lee Cohen becomes a consultant there. Jaret Entertainment’s Seth Jaret continues to manage them.

* This article first appeared in Deadline Hollywood and can be found here.

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Karen McCullah, Kirsten Smith enter ‘Panic Zone’

McCullahSmith

“Legally Blonde” scribes Karen McCullah and Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith have written a new original comedy script titled “Panic Zone” that has been optioned by Barnaby Thompson and his London-based Ealing Studios.

Thompson will produce the film with Marc Platt, Adam Siegel and the two scribes. James Spring of Ealing and Ben Latham-Jones of Londinium Films will exec produce.

“Karen and Kiwi wrote a hilarious modern comedy about the perils of being a woman over 35 trying to find love,” said Platt. “We’ve been looking to find the perfect project to collaborate on since ‘Legally Blonde,’ and when I read their script, I knew we’d found it.”

“‘Panic Zone’ is a perfect fit for Ealing and our long tradition of sophisticated screwball comedies built around iconic stars,” added Thompson.

McCullah and Smith are currently writing a high-concept, female-driven feature comedy for Twentieth Century Fox and producer John Davis. In addition to “Legally Blonde,” McCullah and Smith have written the hit comedies “The Ugly Truth,” “The House Bunny,” “She’s The Man” and “10 Things I Hate About You.” Duo are repped by Paradigm and manager Seth Jaret.

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Kiwi was the first non-actress to be selected to make a film for Reel Moments. Her short debuted alongside shorts directed by Courtney Cox and Demi Moore.

Kiwi and Anna have collaborated twice on short films, both of which starred Anna and were written and directed by Kiwi. Their first success together was THE HOUSE BUNNY, which was co-written by Kiwi’s long-time writing partner, Karen McCullah.

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20th Century Fox has hired Karen McCullah & Kirsten Smith to adapt 29, the novel by Adena Halpern. John Davis is producing. The book is a high concept comedy about an elderly woman who wakes up in the body of her 29-year old self and finally has the chance to do things right. McCullah & Smith’s credits include Legally Blonde and The House Bunny. In addition to solo projects, they are scripting Love It Or Leave It for Chockstone Pictures, which they are producing with Seth Jaret and Steve Schwartz, Paula Mae Schwartz and Roger Schwartz. The scribes are repped by Paradigm and manager Seth Jaret.

Source: http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/fox-sets-scribe-team-mccullah-smith-for-29/

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