Michelle Trachtenberg’s ‘sharp, biting’ script written earlier than her demise was missed by studios, producer says

Michelle Trachtenberg wasn't only a nice actress; she was a terrific author, too. However in keeping with one producer, Hollywood wasn't excited by that aspect of the star, who died on Feb. 26 at age 39.

Director Casey Tebo instructed PEOPLE on Tuesday that Trachtenberg's accomplice, Jay Cohen, "despatched me a script she had written known as Toy Monster… The one scripts I bear in mind staying with me like that in latest reminiscence had been two. Right here Comes the Flood by Simon Kinberg and Toy Monster round 2019. As a result of they had been the 2 finest, by a landslide."

Tebo initially revealed that he had learn Trachtenberg's script in an X put up on the day of her demise, and indicated that he’s at present serving to produce it into a movie. "I'm doing the whole lot I can to get this film made, we simply want to search out the correct director, and I promise we’ll get it made for her," he wrote.

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Trachtenberg is thought primarily as an actress. Her first display function, a single episode spot on Law & Order, got here when she was solely six, and by 11 had already landed considered one of her signature roles, the titular character in Harriet the Spy. The actress' glowing depth and comedian verve led to much more indelible components in sequence like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gossip Girl.

Although these roles paved the way in which for Trachtenberg's enduring recognition, Tebo believes in addition they foreclosed on another paths that may have led to deeper success. "One of many points with our business is they are going to acknowledge somebody like Simon as a terrific author, however they are going to at all times take a look at Michelle as Harriet the Spy or Georgina Sparks," he stated.

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Tebo known as Trachtenberg's script, an adaptation of Jerry Oppenheimer's Toy Monster: The Huge, Unhealthy World of Mattel, a "sharp biting dramedy a few maniac toy govt set within the Nineteen Fifties."

That script would sync proper up with the present tradition, given the latest glut of titles diving into the human tales behind manufacturers and merchandise, from Jerry Seinfeld's Unfrosted (Pop Tarts) to Eva Longoria's Flamin' Sizzling (Cheetos). The monumental success of Greta Gerwig's Barbie additionally gave the Mattel model a stage of cultural saturation it hadn't loved in years, making the sort of lampoon Trachtenberg had in thoughts completely timed.

"The reality is — Michelle was an unimaginable author. However nobody expects her to write down like that," Tebo stated. "It's in regards to the wrestle for credit score, compensation and recognition for fulfillment. One thing Hollywood is aware of nothing about I'm certain."

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Trachtenberg did produce two tasks over the course of her three-decade profession — the 2015 net sequence Steering and a prescient true crime docuseries known as Meet, Marry, Homicide, which she additionally hosted.

Although she wasn't capable of show her knack for writing throughout her lifetime, Tebo has vowed to see her Toy Monster script by to manufacturing, calling it "probably the greatest screenplays I've ever learn," and "pretty much as good as Wolf of Wall Road."

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