Monarch Media Producing ‘Goldfish’ Dramedy From Jonathan Yu

EXCLUSIVE: In his first outing as screenwriter, Jonathan Yu is already on his way toward a produced script: Monarch Media has announced that it will be producing his coming-of-age feature dramedy, Goldfish.

Goldfish centers on a 17-year-old high school senior who presents as detached, ironic and emotionally armored, but underneath is quietly paralyzed by fear of failure, abandonment and becoming his parents.

Set to produce for Monarch, Steve Barnett, Alan Powell and Vicky Patel are currently in search of a director for the project.

Patel, who was contacted by Yu via cold-email, was hooked after reading his script and immediately brought it to her colleagues.

“Every once in a great while, you pick up a wholly original coming-of-age script that’s filled with humor, heart and teenage angst, and this is one of those screenplays,” Patel said. “Jonathan has done an incredible job of crafting a story we can all relate to, and we can’t wait to bring it to life.”

A human biology major at UC San Diego, Yu has had a love of storytelling ever since discovering the Harry Potter books, and films like Jurassic Park and Good Will Hunting, early in life. He didn’t come to recognize screenwriting as a career option until well into college. While Goldfish is not autobiographical, the script draws on his years on his high school swim team. He is repped by 831 Entertainment.

Monarch Media is best known for its work on the acclaimed Richard Linklater film Hit Man, starring Glen Powell. The company’s adult animated feature film Tangles, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Seth Rogen and Bryan Cranston, is vying for Oscar consideration after premiering to critical acclaim at Cannes. More recently, the company launched its comedy Babies, starring Rogen and Anna Kendrick, out of the Toronto Film Festival. They’re currently prepping a feature reboot of A Walk to Remember, as well as an untitled Nick Jonas rom-com for Netflix, which begins production in January.