Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig have already taken over the world of dramatic Lifetime TV movies, and now they’re looking to take over the world of musicals, too. According to Deadline, Ferrell and Wiig are currently attached to develop an original musical for Amblin Entertainment based on the 2013 book Everything is Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals. Here’s a little more info on the book from Deadline’s report:
The book, Everything is Coming Up Profits by Steve Young and Mike Murphy, reveals how corporate America employed Broadway talent to take part in industrial shows from the 1950s to the 1980s to help motivate sales forces and educate employees on products. Some of those musical shows were actually recorded for posterity and the subject matter lends itself to some great humor as some of these actors had to play inanimate objects (and would fight for those roles) or get overly excited about diesel engines, bathtubs or selling tires while they dreamed of being ‘somebody.’ Companies that employed the talent ranged from American Standard, G.E., Exxon, J.C. Penney, Westinghouse, Coca-Cola, Phillips Petroleum, Lucite and Ford Motor Co. They would act and sing either with original songs or song parodies. While some of the productions were total flops like Westinghouse’s 79 Fever, others were high-quality productions such as Diesel Dazzle and American Standard’s The Bathrooms Are Coming. The songwriting duo of John Kander and Fred Ebb did one of the better ones called Go Fly A Kite for General Electric only two weeks before opening Caberet on Broadway.
All deals for the project are currently in negotiations, but Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman are attached to write the score, Steve Levenson is attached to write the script, and Marc Platt is attached to produce.