EXCLUSIVE: Winning what was a competitive bidding situation, Amy Pascal via Pascal Pictures just nailed down a sci-fi pitch from screenwriter Kat Wood. This is the second project that Pascal has bought from Wood, following another sci-fi project, Envoy, that Pascal brought into her company last year. This latest pitch is entitled Genus, described as a thriller about a scientist who accidentally brings back a prehistoric form of human species. It’s set in modern day and, of course, has a strong female lead.

Wood is a former Earth scientist and journalist for the BBC, who is from the UK. Since starting a career as a screenwriter, she has been named as one of the UK’s rising stars. She is one of several up and coming women who write, direct and produce.

Pascal has been steadily building up her feature film and television development slate with such projects as Beneath a Scarlet Sky, Mercury 13, the aforementioned Envoy as well as Barbie and the comic-based Silver & Black.

Eric Fineman is the exec at Pascal Pictures who brought in both projects from Wood.

Wood produced the film Mr. Bojagi which won the Best Short Film Award at the London Independent Film Festival. As a screenwriter, her first produced feature film was Arthur & Merlin. She also wrote and directed the short film Home which starred Maggie Gyllenhaal and was produced by Dana Brunetti and became the first UK winner of the Jameson First Shot Competition.

Wood is repped by Verve, Zero Gravity and attorney Eric Feig.