Exclusive 'Veronica Mars' movie update: 'It's close'

Veronica Mars fans, if you pray, pray hard. And if you don’t, start, because the cult fave’s long-rumored movie version is about to enter the anxiety-producing phase known as do-or-die-time.

“I’m preparing the pitch now — literally now,” Mars‘ main man, Rob Thomas, told me this morning. “I hope to go in and talk to [executive producer] Joel Silver and [Warner Bros.] in the next week or two to see if they’re interested.”

But first, Thomas has to iron out the endgame of the plot, which, as I first reported last fall, focuses on Veronica solving a crime in college rather than as an FBI agent. “I haven’t figured it out yet,” he says of the final act. “That’s what I’m working on now. It’s close. A few key details left to solve.”

Thomas is quick to caution, however, that completing an outline and

pitching the studio are just two steps of a much larger, more daunting

process. “I have some fear that Veronica Mars fans believe that the

chief hurdle in getting the movie made is my writing it,” Thomas

confesses. “Unfortunately, that’s only one of several hurdles. I’m

going to give it my best shot and let the chips fall where they may.

“It’s entirely possible I won’t have an answer at the end of the

pitch,” he continues. “They will want to consider [the pitch], look at

some numbers — whatever it is people on the business side do — and

then they’ll give me some sort of response. Then, if they want to move

forward, there’s the deal-making that’ll need to go on.”

Surprisingly, one of the project’s primary selling points won’t be

tagging along to the meeting. “Kristen [Bell] will not be joining me,”

he says. “I’m sure she has no desire to see how the sausage is made.”

Perhaps not, but I think I know what K. Bell would like to see: a

comments section overflowing with messages of support and encouragement

for Thomas as his Mars mission approaches stage: critical. That’s your cue to get busy writing!

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