Hollywood writer and director Kirk Jones is to helm Vertigo Films’ buzzy upcoming drama series You’ve Been Trumped, marking his first foray into television drama.
The Waking Ned, Nanny McPhee and What to Expect When You’re Expecting director will write and direct the four part series, which is based on Anthony Baxter’s award-winning 2011 documentary of the same name about the small Scottish community who stood up to Donald Trump and his golf course development.
Jones has completed the scripts, which will likely employ the black humour and deep-rooted emotional sensibility of Baxter’s doc.
Set on one of Europe’s most environmentally sensitive stretches of coast on Scotland’s Northeast coastline, the drama charts the unbelievable true story of what happens when everyday people take on one of the world’s most famous, divisive, and powerful families. Deadline first revealed news of the project in November 2020.
Before becoming President, multi-billionaire Trump decided to build a luxury golf course in the middle of a treasured Scottish nature reserve in Aberdeenshire, with the Scottish Government overturning its own environmental laws to give him the green light. That forced the locals to pick up the fight to preserve their way of life and their homes.
Told through the eyes of farmer Michael Forbes, his family, and a core group of residents, it will follow key figures at the heart of the story – from former SNP First Minister Alex Salmond and Councillor John Swinney to Guardian journalist Annie Baxter and the entire Trump family.
“There was a reason why the worlds media was drawn to this story in 2006 and why there was such a determined effort to prevent Anthony Baxter’s excellent documentary of the same name, being released in 2011,” said Jones. “A special site of scientific interest was stripped of its status and a community of decent people faced an unwanted aggressor. This is a story that needs to be told to a wider audience and I am thrilled to be working with this team on what we plan to be a humorous, dramatic and emotionally engaging TV series set in one of the most stunning locations in the British Isles.”
Vertigo co-produces with digital entertainment firm Blazing Griffin (Book of Love) and Baxter’s Montrose Pictures (Eye of the Storm), Allan Nibble, Naysun Alae Carew, Lizzie Gray, Baxter and Jones is executive producers.
Allan Niblo, co-founder of Vertigo Films, said: “Trump’s presidency is arguably one of the most insane periods of modern history, and yet it was this story – one of rebellious spirit, human endeavour and genuine fear for the planet – that we felt compelled to dramatize. Kirk is the perfect person to retell this story having captured so brilliant the strength of community, heart and spirit so well in Waking Ned.
Cast and further details will be announced in due course.