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Scribe Howard Franklin has been tapped to pen the urban comedy Testify for Bob Cooper's Landscape Entertainment and New Line Cinema. Testify centers on Billy Robinson, a young man who still lives with his parents in Trenton, N.J., but dreams of being Testify, a famous rap singer with his own record label, clothing line and soft drink. Problems arise when his responsibilities of being an imaginary icon get in the way of his real life. Cooper will produce with Paul Kaufman. Landscape senior vp feature films Karen Lunder will co-produce. The project was brought to New Line by senior vp Kent Alterman, who will oversee the project with vp production Michele Weiss. "Urban comedies have proven to be extremely popular with audiences and have been tremendous moneymakers over the past couple of years," Cooper said. "We feel we have the ideal project in 'Testify' and are working with a terrific talent in Howard Franklin." Also at New Line, Landscape has Leisureworld, being rewritten by Casey McCabe; The Salesman, being written by Dana Gould and starring Will Ferrell; "I Know That You Know That I Know," being written by Harley Peyton and starring Jim Carrey; Lowest Common Denominator, being written by Scot Armstrong; and Mr. Woodcock, written by Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert.

New Line Cinema has picked up the comedy spec Mr. Woodcock from the writing team of Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert with Landscape Pictures' Bob Cooper set to produce. The script revolves around a young man who returns to his hometown to stop his mother from marrying his old high school gym teacher -- the man who made his life a living hell when he was a student. Cooper will produce, with Brian Inerfeld and Landscape vp Karen Lunder co-producing. New Line production execs Kent Alterman, Michele Weiss and Keith Goldberg will oversee for the studio. This marks the first feature spec sale for Carnes and Gilbert, who previously wrote for the ABC improv series Whose Line Is It Anyway? They are repped by Don Buchwald and Associates. New Line-based Landscape has a number of projects in development at the studio, including the comedy Lowest Common Denominator and a remake of I Know That You Know That I Know.