Deadline: Just because Brad Pitt had the good sense to bow out of the newspaper industry drama State of Play doesn't mean he's not infatuated with the ink-stained wretches who practice the craft. Using their development deal with Reliance, Pitt and his Plan B partner Dede Gardner have acquired screen rights to The Imperfectionist, the Tom Rachman novel published this spring by Dial Press. The book, about the inner workings of an English-language newspaper in Rome, was brokered by CAA. It is one of several projects acquired for Plan B by Reliance since the India-based giant staked the company to a deal that gives Plan B another option when home studio Paramount Pictures says no.
