Paramount's Primal Label Picks Up Medieval Fantasy Spec 'Tower Defense' from Billion-Dollar Screenwriter Evan Daugherty
Paramount's low-budget genre label Primal has acquired "Tower Defense," an original Medieval fantasy spec script from screenwriter Evan Daugherty, with the aim of making the feature R-rated. The project is described as a Medieval and supernatural fantasy twist on the concept of John Carpenter's 1976 film "Assault on Precinct 13" — a siege story transplanted to a world of swords and sorcery (The Hollywood Reporter).
The sale came with no filmmaker or producer attached. Louis Winters is overseeing the project for Paramount Primal (The Hollywood Reporter).
Daugherty is a spec-script specialist whose films have grossed more than $1.5 billion worldwide. His career launched with "Snow White and the Huntsman," a spec script that earned nearly $400 million globally for Universal. He went on to write Lionsgate's young-adult hit "Divergent," Paramount's live-action/CG hybrid "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," and the Alicia Vikander-led "Tomb Raider" reboot. He is represented by Verve, Alibi Entertainment and McKuin Frankel (The Hollywood Reporter).
Paramount Primal was established in late 2025 by producers J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, the co-founders of BoulderLight Pictures. That company produced the horror hit "Barbarian" and the Zach Cregger-directed "Weapons," giving the label deep roots in the genre space (The Hollywood Reporter; Deadline).
The label is moving quickly. It is already in production on its first feature, the comedy "Boys for Life," dated for release on 9 April 2027. In July, Primal picked up an original erotic thriller spec titled "Sweet Spot" by Nic Curcio and Kirby Gladstein, and acquired the domestic screen rights to Wes Craven's original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" script (The Hollywood Reporter).
What makes "Tower Defense" stand out is the combination: a proven blockbuster screenwriter working in an R-rated genre sandbox, backed by producers whose horror instincts have already paid off at the box office. A spec script — meaning the writer sold it on the page, not as a package with a star or director attached — is a vote of confidence in the material itself. And Daugherty's track record of turning original specs into global earners gives the project a commercial pedigree that most low-budget genre pickups cannot match.
No production date or release window has been set for "Tower Defense."
