Waypoint Entertainment and Watch This Ready Ink First-Look Deal, Launching with Comedy Thriller 'The Pull'
Ken Kao's Waypoint Entertainment has signed a first-look partnership with indie production company Watch This Ready to develop, finance and produce original features, with a sports-card heist comedy titled The Pull already lined up as the first film under the deal, according to Deadline.
A first-look deal gives a larger company the right of first refusal on a smaller outfit's projects — meaning Waypoint gets first dibs on anything Watch This Ready brings to the table before anyone else can bid.
Watch This Ready was co-founded by film-makers Kyle Marvin and Michael Angelo Covino alongside producer Emily Korteweg. The company is known for The Climb, which screened at Cannes, and previously collaborated with Waypoint on Splitsville, a comedy directed by Covino that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was acquired for distribution by Neon.
The Pull is written by Zoë Worth and based on an original story by Marvin, who will also direct. Marvin previously helmed the Paramount comedy 80 For Brady. The new film is described as "a propulsive comedic thriller following a small-time hustler mother as she navigates the world of high-value sports cards." It is being developed in partnership with Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and OBB Media.
Producers on The Pull include Ken Kao, Josh Rosenbaum, Emily Korteweg, Michael Angelo Covino, and Adam Paulsen.
Waypoint's recent slate runs wide. The company is backing Project Hail Mary from directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, I Love Boosters from Boots Riley, and Hokum from Damian McCarthy — the latter produced under Waypoint's genre banner Cweature Features. Both I Love Boosters and Hokum premiered at this year's SXSW Film & TV Festival.
Through an ongoing partnership with Neon, Waypoint has co-financed and produced a string of festival favourites: Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier), The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonça Filho), Arco (Ugo Bienvenu), No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook), and Sirāt (Oliver Laxe).
Watch This Ready's own pipeline is busy. Upcoming projects include The Last Fix, a Netflix comedy directed by Covino; an untitled Christmas movie with Neon; the feature directorial debut of Jeannie Sui Wonders; and an untitled action-thriller from film-maker Pippa Bianco.
Kyle Marvin is represented by WME, Canopy Media Partners, and Kim Jaime. Zoë Worth is represented by CAA, Canopy Media Partners, and Linda Lichter and David Jalenko.
For a production company still building its name, a first-look with a financier of Waypoint's reach means a faster path from script to screen — and a partner already accustomed to working with names like Park Chan-wook and Boots Riley. The slate suggests Waypoint is betting that Watch This Ready's taste for character-driven comedy can scale into something bigger.
