Usual Suspects writer teams with Gaumont

The Usual Suspects screenwriter Chris McQuarrie has signed a first-look agreement with Narcos producer Gaumont.

Under terms of the pact, McQuarrie will write, direct and produce “multiple” scripted dramas for Gaumont, which is based in LA and Paris.

The first of these will be STL (WT), a TV drama adapted from Gaumont movie 36 Quai des Orfèvres. It will follow the ruthless competition between cops at a criminal investigations division.

McQuarrie, currently directing the latest Mission Impossible movie, will direct STL, with his wife and production partner, Heather McQuarrie, serving alongside him as executive producer.

Ben Ripley (Source Code) will be writer and executive producer.

McQuarrie has had a long career in Hollywood, and is arguably best known for writing Academy Award-winning crime drama The Usual Suspects in 1995.

He has since directed films such as The Way of the Gun and Jack Reacher, and worked on others such as Valkyrie and Edge of Tomorrow. In 2015, he wrote and directed Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation, and he is also behind NBC drama Persons Unknown and wrote on NYPD Blue.

Gaumont, meanwhile, is the studio behind Netflix’s Narcos, F is for Family and Hemlock Grove, and NBC’s Hannibal.

“Chris is an industry icon – he is a master storyteller, world class director, and hugely talented producer, and he and Heather are a pivotal partnership for Gaumont as we increase our investment into new productions for the global market,” said Gaumont president of US television Gene Stein.