EXCLUSIVE: Sunset Lane Media has landed the feature rights to Rich Cohen’s book The Adventures of Herbie Cohen: World’s Greatest Negotiator, with Daniel Stiepleman (On the Basis of Sex) attached to write and Big Short Oscar winner Charles Randolph producing with David Beaubaire for Sunset Lane Media.
The book tells the true story of Herb “Herbie” Cohen, the noteworthy negotiator, bestselling author and larger-than-life American original who went from the colorful streets of Brooklyn to advising presidents, corporations and governments and playing a key behind-the-scenes role in navigating some of the most consequential disputes of the modern era, helping bring opposing sides back to the table and finding a way forward when agreement seemed impossible.
The idea that made Cohen famous was deceptively simple: life is a negotiation. A husband and wife deciding where to have dinner. A parent trying to get a child to do homework. A CEO closing a deal. Players and owners trying to find common ground. A president facing another world leader. To Cohen, they were all versions of the same fundamental human interaction: understanding what the person across from you needs while figuring out what you need for yourself. For Cohen, to treat all your relationships as transactional, there’s bound to be a price.
“Rich Cohen is one of my favorite writers, and in Herbie he had the greatest possible subject: his own father,” said Beaubaire. “He’s a fantastic character, funny, brilliant, irreverent and completely original. Better than anyone, he understood what motivates people: what’s worth fighting for, where to draw the line, when to walk away and the consequences of getting it wrong. And he knew the best outcome was one where everyone could walk away believing they’d won.”
Beaubaire first collaborated with Randolph on The Big Short. While at Paramount, Beaubaire was the first to identify the potential in Michael Lewis’ book as a feature film, acquiring the rights for the studio after seeing a movie in material few considered inherently cinematic. Randolph ultimately adapting The Big Short and won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
“David and I have wanted to work together again forever,” said Randolph. “We’re both tremendous fans of Daniel, who is an incredibly gifted writer with a rare ability to find character, humor and emotion in complicated worlds. He’s exactly the writer you want taking on someone as singular as Herbie, and I’m thrilled we get to do this together.”
“My father believed we are negotiating almost every moment of our lives, whether we realize it or not,” said Cohen. “But the book was never really about negotiating. It was about people: what they want, what they fear, when they hold on too long, push too hard, and how the choices we make can resonate long after the moment has passed. David immediately saw the movie in my father’s life, and I couldn’t imagine a better team than the one he’s assembled with him in Daniel and Charles to bring it to life.”
Beaubaire is the producer of the Kevin Hart Netflix feature, Fatherhood, and he was an EP on Men in Black: International and the Netflix series, The Night Agent.
Stiepleman is represented by Gersh and Anonymous Content. Randolph and Cohen are represented by CAA
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