Hollywood's Pickleball Push, and Other IP Pursuits
Who's developing projects on the country's fastest-growing sport; the first 2022 best-of book lists; reading roundup
Welcome to a new, free weekly edition of The Optionist. There's so much I can't fit into the regular Friday newsletter of optionable material, and readers often ask me what else is going on in the world of IP. So we've decided to do a regular (gratis) addendum to our Friday paywalled picks. It'll include pieces on newsworthy trends (today we're looking at pickleball, a sport that, as you know, is insanely and peculiarly popular), Q&As with notable people, looks at deals we're keeping an eye on for the future and a roundup of what else we're reading.
Today we've got:
• Pickleball projects in development, and what could come next
• What's on the first "best of 2022" book lists already popping up
• Fresh book deals on The Optionist radar for the future
• What Else We're Reading Right Now
Trend Alert… or Not? Pickleball Edition
So the hottest thing out there right now is... pickleball. Since the racquet sport has already made its way to Hollywood, I thought we'd check in on the state of projects.
You've probably seen a pickleball story (or two or three, since journalists can't resist a trend piece), but maybe still have no idea what the game is. Here's a quick primer: think of Pickleball as a mashup of tennis, paddle tennis and table tennis. The court is about one-third the size of a regular tennis court, the racquets resemble oversized table tennis paddles and players hit something similar to a Wiffle ball. The rules, equipment and small court size make it easier to pick up and not as hard on the body as tennis, so it’s fun if you're 17 or 70 (but it definitely seems like the growth skews more toward the 70 end than the 17 one).
The game was invented in 1965 by Joel Pritchard and two pals at the Bainbridge, Wash. summer home of the future U.S. Congressman. It grew pretty slowly for the next few decades, mainly in Washington state and Hawai'i (where it was known as pukaball), and then in the 2000s it really started picking up steam, aided by the USA Pickleball org and the International Pickleball Federation. Now, thanks in part to the pandemic, we've got about 5 million players in the U.S. (including friendly competitors Larry David and Ari Emmanuel, as well as Matthew Perry and Amanda Peet), in addition to pro leagues, and celebrities like LeBron James and Tom Brady buying franchises.
Not surprisingly, Hollywood wants to get in on the trend. What we've got so far is a few announced docs. On Nov. 17, we get Pickled, a two-hour primetime celebrity pickleball tournament airing on CBS, hosted by Stephen Colbert and produced by Colbert's company Spartina, Funny or Die and CBS studios. They've prepared up a suitable Dancing with Stars type-eclectic lineup of 16 players, including Will Ferrell, Murray Bartlett, Emma Watson, Aisha Taylor, singer Jimmie Allen, Tig Notaro and retired boxer Sugar Ray Leonard to battle it out for the "golden gherkin" trophy.
There are a couple of big-name docs in the works. In January, producer (and pickleball aficionado) Randall Emmett announced a $1 million doc on the history, evolution and current status of game that started filming at pro tournaments earlier this year. The most high-profile project is probably the one from Peter Berg's Film 45 announced in mid-October, pitched as examining the professionalization and commodification of the sport via a look at its top leagues, players and celebrity fans. It counts Seth Porges and Mary Pilon as co-directors. Porges and Pilon bring an interesting background to the project; he's best known for his debut doc, Class Action Park, about New Jersey amusement park with the crazily dangerous (as in death-causing) rides, and she's the author of The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury and the Scandal Behind the World’s Favorite Board Game and other stories about offbeat competitive endeavors, including a recent Wall Street Journal piece on blimp racing.
There are no formally announced scripted pickleball projects yet. About the only one kicking around is by Dan Beaman, a fiftysomething former Army paratrooper, USA Pickleball Ambassador and amateur screenwriter. He describes Pickleballs! – The Movie as inspired by Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and promises it will do for Pickleball what Top Gun did for fighter pilots. But without any experience in Hollywood, he's gotten no traction with it. "I’ve tried to appeal directly to Will Ferrell, and found out how hard it is to reach him.”
It's not surprising that docs, not scripted, are leading the way. The kind of underlying IP you might option for a project hasn't really presented itself yet (so writers, get started!). The early history of the game just isn't that interesting, and there's been no breakout star or single pickleball story that's crossed over to the mainstream. There are the Johnsons, the so-called first family of Pickleball, with mom Julie ranked no. 1 in seniors, son JW no. 1 in men, and daughter Jorja the no. 2 woman. Then there’s Ben Johns, a college student with a 3.7 GPA and a winning streak that went 170 matches. But at first glance, neither really has the kind of compelling backstory upon which to base a film. Maybe the best story isn't on the playing court, but in the court room. The Sports Illustrated piece about the fight over who will control pickleball and presumably the money that comes from it has the makings of a great business drama. Otherwise, I bet the first scripted pickleball project will be something original and comedic, along the lines of something like Dodgeball: An Underdog Story, Balls of Fury or BASEketball.
Books of the Year Lists... Already
Hard to believe considering it's still October but we're already getting our first books of the year lists. We've already got Barnes & Nobles Top 10 list, U.K. retailer WH Smith's Best Books list (a whopping 84 titles!) and Publisher's Weekly's best of, which includes an overall top 10, plus a dozen sublists like thriller, comics and YA. There’s obviously a bunch of books on these lists already under development – Ben Macintyre's Prisoners in the Castle and the kids' book Skandar and the Unicorn Thief – and a number of titles that have appeared in previous editions of the Optionist. We'll be checking in on some of best-of books that might still be available in upcoming Friday newsletters. On the non-fiction side, both Jeannette McCurdy's I’m Glad My Mom Died and Michelle Obama's The Light We Carried made the B&N Top 10. On the other side of the pond, WH Smith had Alan Rickman's savagely entertaining posthumous diaries, and Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry’s new memoir, in their top 20.
Deals We’re Watching
At The Optionist we're keeping our eye on a few recent book deals that might make the newsletter when they get closer to publication. Three that caught our attention this week are a debut novel pitched as a story in the vein of Counterfeit and Crazy Rich Asians that takes place at a high-society Shanghai wedding; a history of the Wide Awakes, a little-known 1860 youth protest movement that helped elect Abraham Lincoln and bring about the Civil War, and a novel set at an elite Irish prep school that's pitched as My Dark Vanessa meets The Secret History. We also see that Mattel just signed a long-term deal with Netflix for more Barbie movies, as toy-based IP has shown a lot of activity in the last few years.
What Else We're Reading Right Now
The NYT explored the Colleen Hoover phenomena.
Who knew that the guy who wrote the famous ’70s soft-rock classic "The Pina Colada Song" is also an accomplished novelist whose latest book is already under development as a TV series?
A PSA of sorts on the need to backup your hard drive from Lana Del Rey, who lost the only copy of her book when her computer was stolen.
Do you remember Rod McKuen? I don't, but he's the bestselling American poet of all-time.
I couldn't put down this New Yorker piece about the actual event behind Denis Johnson's famous short story “Car Crash While Hitchhiking."
Reach out to me at andy@theoptionist.community with any thoughts, feedbacks and pitches. See you back here on Friday!