Michael Notarile Tapped To Script Dark Comedy ‘Bune’ For Monarch Media

EXCLUSIVE: Monarch Media has enlisted Michael Notarile to write Bune, a dark comedy inspired by the true story of a cannabis con gone wrong, which Steve Barnett, Alan Powell and Vicky Patel will produce for Monarch, along with Mark Ross through his Lincoln Road Films banner, and Elizabeth Yuja-Barnett.

Bune tells the story of David Bunevacz, a charismatic conman intoxicated with the American Dream. Bune builds a lavish lifestyle for his family through California’s newly legalized cannabis industry, only to see his multi-million-dollar empire crumble under the weight of excess, moral corruption, and investigation, revealing that the biggest con of all is the American Dream itself.

Bunevacz is a former UCLA decathlete, currently serving a 17-year prison sentence for stealing millions from over 100 investors in the California cannabis business. Producer Barnett was his college roommate.

Notarile’s debut feature script, The Mother, was named to the 2019 Black List. In television, he’s a writer and co-executive producer for an upcoming Showtime series and has written for The Cleaning Lady, The Resident and WWE Monday Night RAW. Previously, he has developed pilots with Amazon and NBC. He’s also currently writing a film for Netflix and is represented by UTA, Kaplan Perrone and Gregg Gellman at Yorn Levine.

Monarch Media and its principals, Barnett, Powell and Patel, produced the action film Valiant One, starring Outer Banks breakout Chase Stokes, with a theatrical release set for January 31 through Briarcliff Entertainment. Currently in production on Tangles, starring Julia Louis Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Seth Rogan and Abby Jacobson, they also produced Richard Linklater acclaimed darkly comedic thriller Hit Man, starring Glen Powell.