In a competitive deal, Sight Unseen has acquired the film rights to Bess Kalb’s wildly imaginative memoir, “Nobody Will Tell You This But Me,” which was published by Knopf on March 17. Elizabeth Chomko will direct from a script adapted by Kalb.
Sight Unseen’s Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, and Oren Moverman will produce. Chomko will also produce alongside Justin Grey Stone for Entertainment 360, who brought her the source material, with Kalb exec producing. Rachel Jacobs will oversee for Sight Unseen.
The story is told by Kalb, who saved every voicemail her grandmother Bobby Bell ever left her before she died at 90.
Chomko most recently wrote and directed the family drama and her feature debut “What They Had,” starring Hilary Swank, Michael Shannon and Robert Forster. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was later released in theaters by Bleecker Street. Her script for the film earned her the Nicholl Fellowship in 2015, and she is also a graduate of the Sundance Lab.
Kalb is an Emmy Award-nominated writer for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Her writing for the show also previously earned her a Writers Guild Award. A regular contributor to The New Yorker’s “Daily Shouts,” Kalb’s work has also been published in various other national publications. Additionally, she has written for both The Oscars and the Primetime Emmy Awards.
Kalb is represented by WME and attorney Darren Trattner. Chomko is represented by WME, Management 360 and attorney Jeff Bernstein.