Jerry Seinfeld has made it clear he would not inject his comic genius into another sitcom, after generating arguably the best one ever. So he is turning to another outlet — the movie screen — and his relationship with Netflix has just won the streamer a plum project for its film slate. Seinfeld will star in, direct and produce Unfrosted, a film comedy he co-wrote with Spike Feresten and Barry Marder that is inspired by a joke he told on the stand-up stage about the world-shaking invention of Pop-Tarts. Netflix has committed to a green light and a production start next spring.
An auction quietly has been playing out for several days, and Seinfeld’s relationship with Netflix’s Ted Sarandos was helpful in swinging the deal to the streamer. Seinfeld signed a lucrative deal with Netflix in 2017 that brought his interview series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee to Netflix, as well the stand-up specials Jerry Before Seinfeld and 23 Hours to Kill. In addition, Netflix last year made a global deal to stream episodes of Seinfeld for five years, beginning later this year.
This follows recent Netflix deals that include an overall film pact with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners, and landing two sequels to the Rian Johnson-Daniel Craig whodunit Knives Out.
The Unfrosted deal was confirmed for Deadline, and Seinfeld explained the film’s modest pandemic-related origins: “Stuck at home watching endless sad faces on TV, I thought this would be a good time to make something based on pure silliness,” he said. “So we took my Pop-Tart stand-up bit from my last Netflix special and exploded it into a giant, crazy comedy movie.”
Seinfeld deconstructed the Pop-Tart joke in a video segment for The New York Times (watch it below). It recounted the moment when, as a schoolkid, his world was rocked by the breakfast product. “How did they know that there would be a need for a frosted fruit-filled heated rectangle in the same shape as the box it comes in, and with the same nutrition as the box it comes in?”
Seinfeld’s forays into movies so far have been limited. He co-wrote, produced and voiced the lead role Barry B. Benson in the 2007 DreamWorks Animation hit Bee Movie, and he was the exec producer and performer of the 2002 documentary Comedian.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Deadline