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Popular jump rope team may land movie deal

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Kings Firecrackers coach Lynn Kelley is in talks with Sobini Films and producer Jay Sanders to film the story of how the jump rope team started and developed. Writer-director Joe Grieco and a production team visited the area earlier this year to film the Firecrackers during half-time shows at the University of Kentucky and Sycamore High School.

File photo Kings Firecrackers coach Lynn Kelley is in talks with Sobini Films and producer Jay Sanders to film the story of how the jump rope team started and developed. Writer-director Joe Grieco and a production team visited the area earlier this year to film the Firecrackers during half-time shows at the University of Kentucky and Sycamore High School.

By Eric Schwartzberg, Staff Writer Updated 12:24 PM Thursday, September 2, 2010

KINGS MILLS — The Kings Firecrackers jump rope team has wowed crowds at basketball arenas, football stadiums, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, a presidential inauguration, the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon and The Late Show with David Letterman.

Now they’re hoping to go Hollywood with a movie deal.

Jay Sanders, who produced “Jumper” starring Hayden Christensen, and Los Angeles-based Sobini Films are in talks to film the story of how the Firecrackers started and developed, said Lynn Kelley, a Kings physical education teacher who founded the jump rope team 14 years ago.

“They want it to be a ‘Blind Side’ meets the ‘Bad News Bears,’ ” Kelley said.

Kings school board members voted Tuesday, Aug. 31, to approve a contract with the production company that would allow the district to retain rights to the name “Kings Firecrackers.”

The particulars of the deal, which have not been agreed to yet by Sobini Films, also stipulates that if the production company accepts movie rights, the district would receive a $25,000 payment, 1 percent of all box office and video sales and 2 percent of all merchandising sales.

“In these dark economic times, it’s great to see something that makes you feel good,” Sanders said. “When you watch the King Firecrackers, what these young girls have done, smiles on their faces — the energy, the performance, the precision — at the end of the day it just makes you smile and makes you happy, and I think that’s what everybody will respond to.”

The jump rope team first received notice from Hollywood in April 2009 when its viral video caught the eye of writer-director Joe Greco, who contacted Kelley.

Greco exchanged phone calls for several months with Kelley, then traveled to the area earlier this year to visit and photograph sites in Mason, South Lebanon and Lebanon.

“The movie is going to be a ‘Main Street America’ movie,” Kelley said. “He felt like Lebanon, South Lebanon and Mason represented that very well.”

The production company entourage also rode the bus with the team to the University of Kentucky and Sycamore High School, where they captured the team’s nearly eight-minute halftime show, Kelley said.

They also attended an open house with the mayors of South Lebanon and Mason, school board members, administrators and former Firecrackers, she said.

Several studios have been approached about the movie, with some showing interest but wanting to first see the script, which is still being developed, Kelley said. The movie might be filmed in the area but nothing has been finalized.

See photos of the Kings Firecrackers

Watch video of the Kings Firecrackers

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