Launch Pad Alum Derek Asaff Signs with Lee Stobby Entertainment (Exclusive)

Derek Asaff, whose pilot scripts THE CURE and THE END both placed in the 2017 Launch Pad Pilots Competition, has signed with Derrick Eppich of Lee Stobby Entertainment.

The Cure, pitched as Children of Men meets Alias, landed in the Top 100 of the competition. When a pandemic takes over the planet, a doctor finds herself targeted by agents who are convinced she has knowledge of the cure her late husband secretly protected. Readers loved the twists and turns of the pilot, taking the audience through thrilling and  “creative new takes on the outbreak narrative.” The pilot tackles numerous genres — science fiction, espionage, and conspiracy thriller — and interweaves them expertly for a story full of potential.

Next, The End placed in the Top 10 of this year’s competition. A fantasy-supernatural epic, the pilot follows Sister Jo, a trainee nun who teams with an ancient group to fend off the apocalypse after witnessing a mysterious agent save a girl from a fallen angel. Pitched as American Gods meets Supernatural, our readers praised the confidence and clarity of the script. They also admired the “easy diversity of race, gender, and religious backgrounds,” which provides “a multiculturalism that is truly representative of America today.” Our readers saw it as a good project for a network as a family-friendly adventure story.

Asaff, a Bostonian of Middle Eastern and Native American (Sioux) descent, graduated from Harvard University majoring in Creative Writing and Literature in 2011. He then spent a year teaching Beginner’s Screenwriting at Grub Street, the country’s second largest literary collective, before receiving his Master’s Degree in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute in 2014.

After graduating from AFI, Asaff quickly found success at their Screenwriter’s Showcase, optioning his award-winning (Grand Prize Creative World Awards, Grand Prize Table Read My Screenplay London) action/comedy script The Wheelman to Original Film and Sony. Original Film hired Derek to rewrite his script, now for a female lead and adding a buddy cop element, which led to Derek becoming a member of the Writer’s Guild of America West. Derek was added to the Tracking Board’s Young and Hungry List for 2015 shortly after his one-hour drama After the Merge won the Final Draft Big Break’s Drama Pilot Category and was shopped to networks by Dark Horse Entertainment.

Derrick Eppich recently joined Lee Stobby Entertainment last year after working at The Gotham Group and Energy Entertainment. Currently, he focuses on genre and prestige storytelling, finding fresh new voices and emerging filmmakers that best capture the independent spirit and heart.

The Launch Pad Feature Competition is currently accepting entries for its 2017 Competition.

Anya Crittenton | Associate Editor