EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has preemptively acquired Survive, a shark-themed thriller feature pitch from screenwriter Ian Levy, which was brought in by Premeditated Productions.

In Survive, a desperate mother and her 12-year-old daughter attempt to flee from her abusive boyfriend. Their escape turns into a harrowing fight for survival after a highway crash leaves them stranded on a coastal cliff, battling not only the violent man they tried to escape, but also a group of sharks circling in the waters below.

The scenario here was unusual for Premeditated, a company with a first-look deal at Amazon MGM, which is better known for producing adaptations of existing material from its sister company, Entangled Publishing. Levy will adapt the screenplay, with Liz Pelletier and Sherryl Clark producing for Premeditated, and Director of Development Cayla Tyne overseeing the project for the company.

For Levy, the sale marks another achievement in a busy year of feature development. His film Out There, which previously sold to eOne, is moving forward at Netflix with The Picture Company producing and Stefan Grube attached to direct, and is expected to enter production soon. Prior to that, he was a longtime executive at Bravo and later an independent film producer, credited on the 2015 film Pay the Ghost.

Premeditated Productions launched in August 2024 with a three-year first-look TV and film deal at Amazon MGM Studios. They’ve previously gone there to set up a series adaptation of Entangled’s bestselling romantic fantasy novel, Fourth Wing, as well as feature adaptations of Kira Archer’s 69 Million Things I Hate About You and Devney Perry’s Shield of Sparrows. Currently, the company is also developing an adaptation of Hannah Nicole Maehrer’s Assistant to the Villain at Legendary Television.

For Amazon MGM, the Survive deal follows one for Code Black, a political thriller feature based on a short story by Harrison Query, to star and be produced by Jake Gyllenhaal.

Premeditated and Levy are both represented by Independent Artist Group. Premeditated is also repped by Caitlin DiMotta at TroyGould PC; Levy by Magnolia Entertainment and Melissa Rogal at Lichter, Grossman, Nichols.

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Abbout Productions, the independent Beirut-based production house led by Georges Schoucair and Myriam Sassine, will be handed the Raimondo Rezzonico Award for producing at this year’s Locarno Film Festival. 

The duo will receive the award on August 7. They will also present two of their titles, Costa Brava, Lebanon by Mounia Akl, and Memory Box by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige.

Georges Schoucair became the CEO of Abbout Productions in 2004, and Myriam Sassine joined as lead producer in 2010. 

In recent years, Schoucair and Sassine have produced films such as Costa Brava, Lebanon (Venice Orizzonti, 2021), Memory Box (Berlinale Competition, 2021), and works by local filmmakers like Ahmad Ghossein, Mohamed Malas, Ghassan Salhab, Oualid Mouannes, Cyril Aris, Ely Dagher, Rana Eid, and Myriam El Hajj, whose Diaries from Lebanon premiered in Berlinale Panorama in 2024.

Schoucair and Sassine have also been prominent advocates for cinema in the MENA region. Schoucair played a pivotal role in the opening of Beirut’s Metropolis Cinema. Sassine co-founded the Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the only genre film festival in the region. Since 2021, she has also managed Aflamuna Connection, a Lebanese co-production platform for Arab filmmakers. 

Schoucair and Sassine will also take part in a public conversation at Forum @Spazio Cinema in Locarno on August 8. 

The Raimondo Rezzonico Award, handed out by the Municipality of Minusio, was created in 2002 in memory of the man who was President of the Festival from 1981 to 1999.

“The films Abbout have produced are a sign of a society that is vital, alive, and continues to look to the future with dogged confidence,” Giona A. Nazzaro, Artistic Director of Locarno, said in a statement. 

“Through their films, Georges and Myriam have been able to tell the story of a country able to come to terms with its history while simultaneously imagining a layered and multifaceted Lebanese identity. They have also launched a great many new talents in front of and behind the camera, helping to give Lebanon a new face, allowing it to meet its potential, and offering a complex portrait of the country that goes far beyond the trivializations of the violence of war. They have worked tirelessly in the pursuit of a fertile and generous dialogue.”

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