Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Teams With Story Mining & Supply On ‘Vicious’ Deal

EXCLUSIVE: Upstart producer/financier Story Mining & Supply Co has teamed with Scott Free to acquire rights to the V.E. Schwab novel Vicious. SM&SC’s Jeffrey Sharp and production president Evan Hayes will produce with Ridley Scott and Michael Schaefer, along with Allison Gillogly. She brought in the book, which was published in September by Tor Books. The acquisition was made through the development fund of SM&SC, which was formed this fall by Sharp and writer-director-financier Jim Kohlberg. Kohlberg and Sharp are behind Starz’s Outlander and The Yellow Birds, scripted and directed by David Lowery.

Vicious is about two ambitious pre-med students who discover that under the right conditions, a person can develop extraordinary supernatural abilities. Once they move from theoretical to experimental, things go horribly wrong. Their friendship becomes corrupted by terrible power on both sides, setting the stage for an epic rivalry fueled by ambition, jealousy and revenge — a toxic mix when fueled by superpowers. CAA repped the book with Waxman Leavell Literary’s Holly Root.