Student's Cold Email Lands Monarch Media Film Deal
A cold email from a university biology student has turned into a feature film deal at Monarch Media.
The company will produce Goldfish, a coming-of-age dramedy written by Jonathan Yu, Deadline reported on 12 October 2026. Coming-of-age means a story about growing up and stepping towards adult life. It is Yu's first outing as a screenwriter. The project is now searching for a director to guide casting, performances and visual style.
Goldfish centres on a 17-year-old high school senior. He presents as detached, ironic and emotionally armoured. That cool surface hides something tighter underneath. He is quietly paralysed by fear of failure, of abandonment, and of becoming his parents.
Yu studies human biology at UC San Diego. He had no prior connection to the company. He sent a cold email. Producer Vicky Patel read it.
That message led to the deal. The story is not autobiographical. It draws on Yu's years on his high school swim team, which shapes the world of the film and its title. Yu is repped, meaning advised and represented in deals, by 831 Entertainment.
Patel will produce Goldfish for Monarch Media alongside Steve Barnett and Alan Powell. A producer shepherds a film from script to screen, hiring key talent and overseeing budget and schedule. No director is attached yet. The search is under way.
Monarch has a broad slate across live action, animation and comedy. It produced Hit Man, the Richard Linklater film starring Glen Powell. Its adult animated feature Tangles stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Seth Rogen and Bryan Cranston. The company launched its comedy Babies, starring Rogen and Anna Kendrick, out of the Toronto Film Festival, Deadline reported.
It is also prepping a feature reboot, meaning a fresh version, of A Walk to Remember. It is also prepping an untitled romantic comedy for Netflix starring Nick Jonas. That film begins production in January.
What makes this stand out is the route in. Unsolicited approaches rarely cut through in Hollywood. This one reached the right inbox and stuck. For viewers, that means Goldfish is at an early stage, with the script in place and key creative hires still to come.
