In the first major on-site deal at TIFF Netflix has pounced on US and remaining international rights to Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut Woman Of The Hour following overwhelmingly positive reviews from Friday’s world premiere.
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‘Woman Of The Hour’: Toronto Review
Screen understands the deal was vauled at $11m. After After the original director fell out the project went into turnaround and Kendrick moved into the director role.
Kendrick was unable to fly in for the world premiere because the film did not secure an interim agreement allowing talent to promote work during the SAG-AFTRA strike.AGC Studios and BondIt Media Finance co-financed the dramatic thriller starring Kendrick (
Pitch Perfect
franchise, A Simple Favor) in the true story of a woman who takes part in a televised dating game and unknowingly chooses active serial killer Rodney Alcala, played by Daniel Zovatto (It Follows, Station Eleven).Kendrick’s assured directing debut has earned acclaim and there has also been praise for Zovatto’s performance along with that of newcomer Autumn Best. The cast includes Kathryn Gallagher, Nicolette Robinson, Tony Hale, Kelley Jakle, and Pete Holmes.Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee (
It
, TheGrudge, TheRing franchises, The Departed) and Miri Yoon (Weapons) served as producers, with BoulderLight’s JD Lifshitz and Raphael Margueles (Barbarian).Executive producers are Stuart Ford, Zach Garrett, Miguel A. Palos Jr., Anna Kendrick, McDonald, Joe Penna, Paul Barbeau, Sean Patrick O’Reilly, Matthew Helderman, Luke Taylor, Andrew Deane,and Stephen Crawford.CAA Media Finance and Range Media Partners represented the filmmakers in the US deal alongside AGC International for additional territories.
AGC International closed a raft of pre-sales at TIFF last year, when the project was called
The Dating Game
and on that occasion Kendrick attended a buyers presentation.Pre-sales closed with Signature in the UK and Ireland; VVS Films in Canada; Telepool in Germany; Roadshow in Australia/New Zealand; Spentzos in Greece; Sam Film in Iceland; United King in Israel; Sun Distribution in Spain, Portugal and Latin America; MisLabel in Scandinavia; Aqua in Turkey; GSC Movies in Malaysia; Relay Motion Kft. The
