Screenwriter Cheryl Guerriero Adapts Colonel Sanders ‘Finger Lickin’ Good Story’ For Film Project With Producer Eric Paquette

Palmer screenwriter Cheryl Guerriero has adapted the life story of Colonel Sanders into a new feature film project that she will produce along with Eric Paquette and his Meridian Pictures.

Guerriero adapted Margaret Sanders’ book The Colonel’s Secret: Eleven Herbs and a Spicy Daughter into the screenplay for the project, A Finger Lickin’ Good Story: The Life of Colonel Sanders.

In a statement, Guerriero said, “I knew Sanders was a real man but I had no idea how many jobs he had, how many failures, how many challenges, but the biggest surprise was that he was around 65 years old when he set out to franchise his chicken. It is an incredible story of perseverance and faith.”

Margaret Sanders’ 1996 book is laced with humor but also tells of a sometimes complicated relationship she had with her father. It’s a first-hand account of how Harland Sanders built Kentucky Fried Chicken, now one of the world’s largest restaurant chains. Sanders died in 1980, but KFC still uses his persona.

“I’m just so honored and thrilled that Margaret and Colonel Sanders’ family have entrusted me to bring this story to the screen,” Guerriero said. “To anyone who’s ever wanted to quit or been fired or felt they were too old to pursue a dream, or for anyone who has a complicated relationship with a family member I feel strongly this is a story that will not only inspire and resonate, but it will entertain.”

Guerriero’s Palmer, starring Justin Timberlake, debuted last year on Apple TV+. Her screenplay was on the 2016 Black List. She also was recently hired by Aurelio DeLauretiis’ company Filmaura to adapt her novel Girl on Point into a screenplay. She wrote the screenplay I Have Something to Tell You for Monarch Media, and it is currently in development for her directorial debut. The project is inspired by Guerriero’s own experience, when she hid a video camera in her family kitchen before she came out to her conservative parents. She later shared her experience on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2004.

Meridian is preparing production of the thrillers Kinetic, with Paul Katis directing, and Papa Alpha Heavy, with Gary Fleder helming. Capstone is financing the projects. Other projects include The Silent Hour, directed by Brad Anderson and with AGC Studios financing. Jada Nation and Alice O’Neill are writing the series adaptation of The New Chardonnay, the book by Heather Cabot.