EXCLUSIVE: Searchlight Pictures has won a heated bidding battle for Incidents, a psychological thriller spec from William Gillies (Hallow Road), Deadline has learned.
While unconfirmed, we’re told the film is about a woman who escapes from an attempted abduction with no clear motive, vowing thereafter to find her kidnapper and discover why she’s been targeted. No word yet on other creative attachments, but sources said there were 11 offers on the material.
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Born on Halloween and thus passionate about all things genre ever since, Gillies is best known for his debut feature Hallow Road, another psychological thriller that premiered to strong reviews at SXSW 2025. Directed by Under the Shadow‘s Babak Anvari, the film watches as two parents enter a race against time when they receive a distressing late-night phone call from their daughter after she caused a tragic car accident. We reported exclusively on the casting of leads Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys in 2023.
Based in London, Gillies is currently developing his second feature, Who Goes There?, for Pulse Films alongside director Astrid Thorvaldsen, based on the duo’s RTS Award-winning short film of the same name. He’s staffed extensively in TV — most recently, on the upcoming Netflix/Bad Wolf show The Lord’s Day — and is also developing an original thriller series for Mam Tor.
A 2020 graduate of the National Film and Television School’s MA in Screenwriting, the writer is currently being mentored by Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent as part of a Dancing Ledge program. He is repped by Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment, Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
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