HOLLYWOOD — Hollywood producer Chris Aronoff has optioned an adventure story for tweens—boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 14—which he hopes will resonate with the same audiences that made Harry Potter a film favorite.

Aronoff, co-founder of Antibody Films, recently bought the rights to an action-adventure story featuring a 12-year-old boy named Andy Sweet as the central character. The unpublished novel is titled “Andy Sweet and the $20 Gold Piece,” and was acquired from a writer living in Joplin, Mo., Ron Hutchison. It tells the story of three kids searching for the “lost treasure” of Jesse James.

A veteran of independent film start-up companies, Aronoff served as a visual effects supervisor for the extremely successful Warner Bros. family drama "Charmed," and in 2006 produced his first narrative feature, "One Day Like Rain." Antibody was founded that same year by Aronoff and Jesse Lawler.

Aronoff said the demographic for the Andy Sweet genre is huge. “There are more than 29 million movie-going tweens, and they represent an important and lucrative audience,” Aronoff said. “We hope the Andy Sweet character will resonate with this audience.”

Antibody has other children’s movies in the works, including “Max Wright and the Incredible Chewing Catastrophe,” an animated feature, and “Pirate Camp,” a live action family film.

Aronoff said he was drawn to the Andy Sweet series as much by the characters as by the storylines. The two other principle characters are Allie Sweet, Andy’s 8-year-old sister, and Drew Cunningham, their 13-year-old cousin.

The Hollywood filmmaker said the Andy Sweet stories take him back to his years growing up outside Corvallis, Ore. “My friends and I loved to explore the forests during the summer,” he said. “We never found a $20 gold piece like Andy Sweet, but we did find a lot of other cool stuff.” He said the Andy Sweet stories will take young audiences to places they have never been. “The settings in all three stories are quite unique.”      

Aronoff said Andy Sweet, much like Harry Potter, lives a life of danger and adventure, whether it’s searching for the “lost treasure” of Jesse James, outwitting two outlaws who have hijacked a hot-air balloon, or saving a canyon filled with primitive petroglyphs from a band of thieves. Aronoff said the Andy Sweet characters are old-fashioned gumshoes in a 21st century world.

Veteran child star Seth Adkins has been cast in the role of Andy Sweet, Aronoff said. Adkins’ credits include many television and feature-length films, including the 2000 made-for-TV movie “Geppetto,” starring Drew Carey. Adkins also stars in Antibody’s “Pirate Camp,” starring Corbin Bernsen. “

Aronoff said Antibody has the right of first refusal to two other of Hutchison’s Andy Sweet novels, “Andy Sweet and the Runaway Airship” and “Andy Sweet and the Ghosts of Petroglyph Canyon.”

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For more information, contact Chris Aronoff at Antibody Films – (213) 840-2631, or e-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

For more information about book rights, contact The Krista Goering Literary Agency – (785) 841-0634 or e-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it