Paramount Animation & Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort Making ‘I Eat Poop’

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Animation is developing I Eat Poop: A Dung Beetle Story based on the popular children’s book by Mark Pett, with Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort producing under their first-look deal with the Melrose Ave. lot.

Josh Cooley, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Toy Story 4, is adapting and in talks to direct.

Also producing are EGOT-winning songmakers Benj Pasek & Justin Paul via their production company Ampersand. The duo previously worked with Maximum Effort on ditties for the Apple Original Film Spirited starring Reynolds and Will Farrell.

Elizabeth Caren

I Eat Poop follows dung beetle Dougie who starts at a new school in a new town. There he struggles to hide who he is—and what he eats. But when a series of mysterious disappearances plagues the town, Dougie and his whole community discover that what makes them different…might just be what makes them heroes.

Brad Butler is overseeing the project for Paramount Animation.

Additional projects in development with Maximum Effort include Boy Band, Starter Villain, Eloise, Reality Vice, and Untitled Conspiracy Thriller.

Cooley began his career at Pixar, contributing to The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Up. He co-wrote Inside Out (2015), earning an Oscar nomination, and made his directorial debut with 2019’s Toy Story 4 which not only won Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, but also grossed over $1.07 billion. In 2020, he wrote screenplays for Universal, Sony Pictures, and Disney. Most recently, he directed Transformers One last year for Paramount which made over $129M worldwide.

Pett is also the award-winning author and illustrator of I’m Not Millie!, This Is My Book, Lizard From the Park, The Boy and the Airplane, The Girl and the Bicycle, and The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes. His books have sold over a half a million copies and have been translated into ten languages. Before books, he was a political cartoonist in Prague, created the syndicated comic strips Mr. Lowe and Lucky Cow. He holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest comic strip. A former sixth grade teacher and current professional poker player, he lives with his family in the Mountain West. He is repped by CAA on behalf of Kerry Sparks of Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency.

Cooley is represented by CAA, Jeff Silver at Untitled, and Peter Sample and Ryan Levine at Jackoway.

Pasek & Paul are represented by CAA, Kraft-Engel Management, and Schreck, Rose, Dapello, Adams, and Berlin & Dunham.