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Workman Books-to-Film or, We Love Mindy Kaling

We love Mindy Kaling (writer for The Office, among other things) for many reasons, but one particular mention in her recent, revelatory essay on chick flicks in The New Yorker made her particularly endearing as of late. Here’s the relevant excerpt from her piece, but click here for the full scoop! The scene involves Mindy, cast as a TV writer who dreams of hitting the big time and writing for the movies, pitching ideas to a roomful of execs.

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After I finished pitching one of my ideas for a low-budget romantic comedy, I was met with silence. One of the execs sheepishly looked at the other execs. He finally said, “Yeah, but we’re really trying to focus on movies about board games. People really seem to respond to those.”

For the rest of the meeting, we talked about whether there was any potential in a movie called “Yahtzee!” I made some polite suggestions and left.

I am always surprised at what movie studios think people will want to see. I’m even more surprised at how often they are correct. Based on what I’ve learned from my time in Hollywood, the following titles are my best guess as to what may soon be coming to a theatre near you:

“Bananagrams 3D”

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And yes, there is a whole list of games that follows, but let’s just stop after that first one. I mean, why not? We already have the book, filled with content ripe for compelling dialogue. In fact, it’s a whole series, so there’s plenty of room for blockbuster sequels.

Not to mention, Workman has a history with turning books into movies: What to Expect When You’re Expecting is in post-production; Algonquin’s Water for Elephants is just now being released on DVD and Blu-Ray; and Big Fish was made into a movie, too! So lastly — Mindy, if you need help with casting or costuming, we’re here to help…