20th Century Studios Wins Heated Bidding War For Python Thriller Spec ‘Crush’ Penned By Temple Hill Exec John Fischer

EXCLUSIVE: In a heated multi-studio bidding war, 20th Century Studios has locked down rights to Crush, a snake-themed spec penned by current Temple Hill executive John Fischer.

Crush is a propulsive, ticking-clock survival thriller about a woman hiking alone in the Everglades who wakes to find herself trapped in the crushing coils of a massive python, fighting to stay alive as every breath brings her closer to death. Inspired by true events and told primarily in real time, the hot spec is said to be a real page-turner that has already begun attracting interest from major actresses for its juicy lead role.

20th is said to be fast-tracking the project for production, with conversations underway on a director and cast. Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey will produce for Temple Hill, with Scott Glassgold’s 12:01 Films also attached to produce. J.R. Young will be overseeing for 20th. While unconfirmed, sources placed Fischer’s deal in the mid-to-high six figures.

As previously alluded to, there’s an interesting backstory to this project: Fischer, who serves as Executive Vice President of Development and Production at Temple Hill Entertainment, wrote it under the pseudonym J.W. Archer in his free time, unsure whether anyone would like it or if he’d ever do anything with it. It quickly gathered heat after he posted it on the Black List, leading to outreach from reps eager to sign him and take the project out. Fischer then had to sheepishly walk into the office of his Temple Hill bosses to confess that he’d written a script — and ask if they might want to produce it. Now, he’s in the enviable position of getting a movie he wrote off the ground while still juggling his day-to-day executive duties.

“Needless to say, it was quite a surprise when John walked into our office and told us he had written a script on the weekends in Spain while working on one of our movies,” Bowen and Godfrey told Deadline. “We went from being terrified about how to come up with nice things to say when he asked us to read it to elated that it was a thrill ride of a movie that we wanted to produce. We can’t wait to abuse him with pages and pages of notes as we move this into production.”

Fischer joined Temple Hill in 2016, going on to co-produce The Hate U Give, based on the bestselling novel by Angie Thomas, before exec producing titles including Uncle Drew, On the Come Up, and We Have a Ghost. He also produced Sundance prize-winner Emergency, as well as Temple Hill’s horror hit Clown in a Cornfield and Lasse Hallström’s The Map That Leads to You.

Fischer’s upcoming films as a producer include Monitor, a high-concept horror written and directed by Matt Black and Ryan Polly; Children of Blood and Bone, the adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s bestselling novel directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood for Paramount; and The Berenstain Bears, an animated feature based on the beloved book series.  Fischer has no plans to quit his day job just yet, but given his natural storytelling instincts, we’ll see where things go from here.

Recently producing Smile 2, as well as Clown in a Cornfield, Temple Hill’s other upcoming projects include Charlie Harper and People We Meet on Vacation. Glassgold is coming off producing the sleeper Sony hit Tarot, which grossed nearly $50 million worldwide, and is currently readying Drew Hancock’s My Wife and I Bought a Ranch for Amazon MGM Studios.

Fischer and 12:01 were repped by Verve on the deal.

Source: https://deadline.com/2025/10/crush-spec-john-fischer-sells-20th-century-studios-1236574771/