Exclusive: Production outfit Eq Media Group has will produce unscripted series Hopwood’s Castle, based on actor Hopwood DePree’s journey from Hollywood to northern England to rescue his dilapidated 600-year-old ancestral home.
DePree discovered his descendants in England lived in a castle, Hopwood Hall Estate, while browsing his family ancestry online. This revelation compelled him to move overseas to save the building from certain ruin, with it having been abandoned for decades. Since then, organizations including Historic England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Architectural Heritage Fund have awarded funds to the project.
The actor initially toured a one-hour stand-up comedy show on the topic in 2019, culminating at the Edinburgh Fringe, before penning a novel on the subject which, as Deadline revealed, William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins USA, landed with a six-figure advance.
“When we heard Hopwood’s incredible story we immediately knew it would make an amazing ongoing television series.
DePree discovered his descendants in England lived in a castle, Hopwood Hall Estate, while browsing his family ancestry online. This revelation compelled him to move overseas to save the building from certain ruin, with it having been abandoned for decades. Since then, organizations including Historic England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Architectural Heritage Fund have awarded funds to the project.
The actor initially toured a one-hour stand-up comedy show on the topic in 2019, culminating at the Edinburgh Fringe, before penning a novel on the subject which, as Deadline revealed, William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins USA, landed with a six-figure advance.
“When we heard Hopwood’s incredible story we immediately knew it would make an amazing ongoing television series.
- 3/12/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Finding Hopwood, the memoir penned by actor and producer Hopwood DePree, has secured a global publishing deal after an auction. Executive editor Rachel Kahan of William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins USA, landed the book with a six-figure advance.
DePree’s book chronicles his journey moving from Hollywood to northern England to rescue his dilapidated 600-year-old ancestral home, Hopwood Hall Estate. It was developed from his one-hour live stand-up comedy show that toured in 2019 and culminated at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe. He has also been chronicling the journey on his Youtube channel.
Rachel Kahan has been the editor of bestsellers including Hidden Figures, which was adapted into an Oscar nominated movie.
Hopwood Hall Estate was lost from the Hopwood family in the early 20th century when the last two male heirs in England were killed in the First World War. DePree rediscovered the building while surfing the web,...
DePree’s book chronicles his journey moving from Hollywood to northern England to rescue his dilapidated 600-year-old ancestral home, Hopwood Hall Estate. It was developed from his one-hour live stand-up comedy show that toured in 2019 and culminated at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe. He has also been chronicling the journey on his Youtube channel.
Rachel Kahan has been the editor of bestsellers including Hidden Figures, which was adapted into an Oscar nominated movie.
Hopwood Hall Estate was lost from the Hopwood family in the early 20th century when the last two male heirs in England were killed in the First World War. DePree rediscovered the building while surfing the web,...
- 9/9/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Craig here with the next "We Can't Wait. Summer and Beyond" post.
What's Wrong with Virginia
Directed by: Dustin Lance Black
Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Emma Roberts, Amy Madigan
Jennifer Connelly on set in Michigan
Synopsis: A drama in which a psychologically disturbed woman (Connelly) who has engaged in a 20-year illicit love affair with a sheriff (Harris), who is running for the state senate, is tested when her son begins a relationship with his daughter (Roberts).
Brought to you by: Killer Films and TicTock Studios (producers Scott J. Brooks, Hopwood DePree and Christine Vachon)
Expected release date: Tba (late 2010)
Director/Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black working out Virginia's problems
Dustin Lance Black, who last year won an Original Screenplay Oscar for Gus Van Sant's Milk, directs his second feature, which stars Connelly and Harris - who are here appearing in their fourth film together, after Waking the Dead,...
What's Wrong with Virginia
Directed by: Dustin Lance Black
Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Emma Roberts, Amy Madigan
Jennifer Connelly on set in Michigan
Synopsis: A drama in which a psychologically disturbed woman (Connelly) who has engaged in a 20-year illicit love affair with a sheriff (Harris), who is running for the state senate, is tested when her son begins a relationship with his daughter (Roberts).
Brought to you by: Killer Films and TicTock Studios (producers Scott J. Brooks, Hopwood DePree and Christine Vachon)
Expected release date: Tba (late 2010)
Director/Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black working out Virginia's problems
Dustin Lance Black, who last year won an Original Screenplay Oscar for Gus Van Sant's Milk, directs his second feature, which stars Connelly and Harris - who are here appearing in their fourth film together, after Waking the Dead,...
- 4/8/2010
- by Craig Bloomfield
- FilmExperience
Ed Harris, Emma Roberts and Amy Madigan have joined the cast of the independent drama "What's Wrong With Virginia." The film also co-stars Jennifer Connelly in the title role. The film will be directed and written by Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "Milk."Harris replaces Liam Neeson, who had been attached to play the role of a sheriff whose state senate bid is jeopardized when his daughter begins to date the son of a psychologically disturbed woman with whom the sheriff has engaged in a two-decade affair.According to Variety, shooting is scheduled to begin on September 28 in Holland, Michigan.Christine Vachon of Killer Films, Hopwood DePree and Scott Brooks are producing with Gus Van Sant, Yeardley Smith and Jay...
- 9/15/2009
- by Adnan Tezer
- Monsters and Critics
Sam Huntington and Haylie Duff are in negotiations to star in Tug, an indie film from writer-director Abram Makowka that will be one of the first features to film in Michigan since the announcement in April of the state's 40% film tax incentive program.
Set in small-town Michigan, "Tug" centers on a guy (Huntington) whose life begins to unravel when he is torn between staying with his current girlfriend or going back to his psycho ex (Duff).
TicTock Studios' Hopwood DePree and Rebecca Green are producing and financing. Production will begin in June.
Huntington is repped by UTA, Duff is repped by WMA and Curtis Talent Management.
Set in small-town Michigan, "Tug" centers on a guy (Huntington) whose life begins to unravel when he is torn between staying with his current girlfriend or going back to his psycho ex (Duff).
TicTock Studios' Hopwood DePree and Rebecca Green are producing and financing. Production will begin in June.
Huntington is repped by UTA, Duff is repped by WMA and Curtis Talent Management.
- 5/15/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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