Brett Carducci, Stephen Laddin to Develop Bill Brittain’s ‘The Wish Giver’ for TV (EXCLUSIVE)

By Daniel Holloway

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Brett Carducci and Stephen Laddin have acquired the film and television rights to Bill Brittain’s “The Wish Giver.” The two will produce a series project based on the young-adult novel through Carducci’s Aligned Entertainment.

Published in 1983, “The Wish Giver” tells the story of three children, each granted a wish that, when fulfilled, turns horribly wrong. The book won a Newbery Honor citation in 1984. Carducci and Laddin intend to develop the project as an anthology in the vein of “The Twilight Zone” or “Black Mirror,” but with a youth-oriented spin in the tradition of “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” Each episode will take viewers through the journey of a teenager wishing for something different in his or her own life, and having that wish come true — though not in the way intended. The teen must then learn a moral lesson that reverses the wish.

No network is yet attached to the project. Chad Christopher and Hannah Knapp at SGSBC negotiated the rights deal with publisher HarperCollins.

Carducci produced the MTV scripted pilot “KJMMDI” and was an executive producer on the 2017 film “Killing Hasselhoff.” He produced ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary “Student/Athlete.” Laddin helped develop the independent pilot “Dr. Del” for Heel & Toe Films, starring John Hawkes, Chloe Sevigny and Ted Levine and was an executive producer on the Bit Torrent Now pilot “The Specials.”