Sony has landed feature film rights to Wil Haygood’s Washington Post report “A Butler Well Served by This Election” reports the trades.
The film is the life story of African-American butler Eugene Allen who served for 34 years at the White House. Allen worked for eight presidents, starting as a pantry man for Harry Truman in 1952 and ending in 1986 with Ronald Reagan.
Haygood’s story included reflections by Allen and his wife Helene in an interview a few days before the election of Barack Obama. Helene died on the day before the election and was buried on the same day that the article was published – November 7th.
Haygood will be an associate producer and researcher on the project. Laura Ziskin is producing.
