TriStar Takes ‘The Tip’: ‘Bodyguard’s John Strickland To Direct Cooper McMains Thriller

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EXCLUSIVE: Sony’s TriStar has preemptively picked up Cooper McMains’ feature spec thriller The Tip with John Strickland, the director of the Emmy-winning Netflix/BBC series The Bodyguard, attached to direct.

The precise storyline is largely under wraps, but we’re hearing that elements involve a waitress, a hefty $10K tip from a stranger with events turning dangerous.

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Jeremy Stern and Bob Shaye of Unique Features will produce alongside Jack Greenbaum and Richard Arlook of The Arlook Group. TriStar President Hannah Minghella and SVP of film Nicole Brown will oversee for the studio which catapulted MRC/Working Title’s Baby Driver to a huge sleeper success in the summer of 2017 with $227M at the global box office. Up next for TriStar is the Tom Hanks movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood on Nov. 22. Pic, directed by Marielle Heller, premiered at TIFF and currently is 96% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

McMains was previously a staff writer on ABC’s Take Two. He’s repped by Verve and The Arlook Group. Strickland’s directing credits include the BBC/Acorn series Line of Duty, Prime Suspect 2 starring Helen Mirren and PBS/ITV Studios’ Emmy-nominated Mr. Selfridge. He is repped by Paradigm, Lighthouse Entertainment, and Independent Talent Group.

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