Thanks to the success of the Twilight film, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg has become a bit of a player in Hollywood, with THR reporting that she’s set up her own production company, Tall Girls Productions and play to write and produce and adaptiong of the 1983 Pamela Sargent novel Earthseed for Paramount Pictures.
The story is set in a future where humans are looking to find a new planet to live on. An expedition entitled Ship transports genetically-engineered teenagers who were born without parents. They are given a simulated Earth environment called Hollow to see if they can survive, although tensions between the groups leads to all-out fighting.
Rosenberg told THR, “It really talks about the debate of nature vs. nurture, what is innately human and what can be bred in or out of someone. There’s a Lord of the Flies element to it. It involves a young woman who starts off as someone who is content with playing by the rules and being a “good girl,’ and then has to realize that the rules are malleable and that she has to step forward as a leader. It’s really about coming into one’s own power and embracing one’s own strength and individuality.”
Earthseed is the first in a trilogy of novels by Pamela Sargent, with Farseed (2007) and Seed Seeker (2010) rounding out the series – and ensuring there’s franchise potential for the film.
Rosenberg will also produce Earthseed through her newly-formed Tall Girl Productions banner, saying about her new company, “What I want for Tall Girls is to be creating great, strong roles for women, but in four-quadrant, high-concept movies. Not movies for women in the traditional sense but more interesting, intriguing, complex roles-and kickass women, as well. That is definitely this book.”