James Erwin Sells 'Rome Sweet Rome' to Hollywood

by Jordan Yerman | October 14, 2011 at 07:42 am

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Marines-vs-Roman Empire Story, Spawned on Reddit, Goes Hollywood

James Erwin, who posts as Prufrock451 on Reddit, has just pissed off countless toiling screenwriters in the greater Los Angeles area.

Erwin sold his "Rome Sweet Rome" story, about a battalion of US Marines who find themselves up against the Roman Empire. We covered this story earlier:

Rome Sweet Rome: US Marines vs Roman Empire

Here's an earlier Screenrant interview with James Erwin, who is also a two-time Jeopardy winner. Erwin has also written two encyclopedias, and is about to publish a book on the history of US military action, so he didn't come to that Reddit story completely cold.

Madhouse Entertainment's Adam Kolbrenner spotted Erwin's "Rome, Sweet Rome" posts once they reached the top of Reddit and moved quickly to contact the writer and begin working with him to develop the concept. When it came time to find a home for the project, Kolbrenner brought it to WB's Chris Gary, a young exec who encouraged the studio to move aggressively to acquire it.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.