China’s Perfect Village Buys Spec ‘Widow: The Way Of The Raven’ From UK Scribe Joanne Reay

Tom Grater

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EXCLUSIVE: Chinese company Perfect Village Entertainment has bought spec script Widow: The Way Of The Raven from UK writer Joanne Reay in a mid-six-figure deal.

Set in California in the late 1800s, the project is a Western inspired by the law of ‘widow’s succession’, which allowed for the wife of a deceased sheriff to inherit his badge. In the screenplay, a young Chinese wife takes over from her assassinated husband and is determined to see through the execution of a man who murdered a Chinese girl in a racist attack.

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Directors and several Chinese stars are said to be circling the project.

Production and finance outfit Perfect Village is a joint venture between Chinese media conglomerate Perfect World and Australian company Village Roadshow. It was launched in 2017 with support from Endeavor (then WME | IMG) and is headed up by longtime China-based exec Ellen Eliasoph.

Perfect World has a slate financing deal with Universal, through which its credits to date include Downton Abbey, Yesterday, and BlacKkKlansman.

Joanne Reay’s credits include the Sam Neill and Tom Payne sci-fi MindGamers. She will also produce Widow alongside Eliasoph.

Reay is managed by Larry Robinson at Los Angeles and London-based Avatar Entertainment.

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