Zack McDermott and his mother, Cindy, aka “the Bird”
Channing Tatum’s Free Association has teamed with Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf’s Big Beach to option Zack McDermott’s book “Gorilla and the Bird: A Memoir of Madness and a Mother’s Love,” for TV series development. “Demolition” scribe Bryan Sipe is attached to pen the adaptation and executive produce.
The memoir chronicles McDermott’s personal battle with bipolar disorder, which affects nearly 6 million Americans and usually presents itself in patients during their mid-twenties, the same age that it affected McDermott.
According to the description, “Gorilla and the Bird” follows Zack’s (the Gorilla) fight to regain his sanity after a devastating psychotic break, with the help of the only person who didn’t give up on him, his mother (The Bird). This inspirational mother, who had her own challenges of overcoming domestic abuse and poverty to raise three children on her own, stuck by him and helped him recover as he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
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