In this business the earlier you get your hands on the hardly read material the better. The yet-published comic novel by Matthew M. Quick has had its screen rights bought by The Weinstein Company. Variety reports that the former teacher who lives in Massachusetts, sent his manuscript unsolicited to Sterling Lord Literistic, where it was plucked from the slush pile by lit agent Douglas Stewart. He quickly sold it to Sarah Crichton Books, an imprint at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, which will publish the book in early 2009.
The Silver Linings Playbook concerns a man who, after a mental collapse, is released from a health facility determined to find the silver linings in his life. In total denial that his wife has remarried and moved on, he moves home with his parents and befriends a depressed woman who offers to act as a liaison between him and his wife.
Mirage Prods. partners Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella will produce with Michelle Raimo.