Paramount Pictures Taps Writer Barbara Curry For Dating App Killer Feature ‘Gasp’

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures has tapped screenwriter Barbara Curry to pen their upcoming feature Gasp, the dramatic investigative thriller is inspired by several true stories of women who were killed by men they met on dating apps. Kind of like a modern day Looking for Mr. Goodbar, it seems.

And what better writer to script: Curry segued to screenwriting after a decade serving as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Produced by Jennifer Gibgot and Adam Shankman’s Offspring Entertainment, the story follows a female detective who goes undercover online to catch a killer who is murdering women he meets on a specific popular app. But when she starts to fall for one of the suspects who has been cleared, she discovers he may in fact be the killer.

The studio bought the original thriller pitch by Mario Celaya in February. Vanessa Joyce is shepherding the project at the studio, and Jessica Sharzer (American Horror Story) is co-producing.

Curry is also currently developing her legal drama Relative Justice at NBC with producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald at Universal TV where their Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation banner has a first-look deal. Her other include the Universal and Blumhouse feature The Boy Next Door, which starred Jennifer Lopez, Kristin Chenoweth and John Corbett. She also did a rewrite of Fox 2000’s The Jury for Marc Forster and Brad Simpson.

Curry is repped by APA, Heroes & Villains, and Ryan Nord at Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof + Fishman.