Spec Script Sale: “El Presidente”

Per TheWrap:

Warner Bros. has acquired Dan Goor’s action comedy spec script “El Presidente,” the studio has confirmed to TheWrap.

The story follows an overly-committed Secret Service agent who is assigned to guard the country’s worst former president, a bumbling sleaze. It’s a mundane and boring job — until there’s a threat made on the ex-president’s life, forcing the duo to go on the run together.

Sounds a bit like Guarding Tess (1994) and a bit like My Fellow Americans (1996). But as I keep saying… similar but different. 

Other details:

According to It’s On the Grid, WB made a preemptive purchase of the promising property several weeks ago in an impressive deal negotiated by Goor’s representation at UTA.

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The studio has been on a serious shopping spree lately, picking up Daniel Sussman’s original screenplay “Galveston,” Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer’s action spec “Family Getaway,” Peter O’Brien’s action-thriller “Unlocked,” Greg Hurwitz’s sci-fi spec “Expulsion” and Jonas Cuaron’s untitled pitch for a gritty thriller set in Mexico City.

Often when there’s a change in upper management at a studio, they make a splash buying scripts in part because they jettison some of the projects in development — they like to make their own mark — and in part to get the city’s attention. And recently Warner Bros. announced that Alan Horn is gone after 11 years as president, passing the torch to Jeff Robinov (for background, see Patrick Goldstein’s article here).

Goor is repped by UTA.

By my count, this is the 35th spec script sale in 2010.