Kirk Ellis to adapt polygamist drama 'Escape'

Screenwriter Kirk Ellis will write the big-screen adaptation of Carolyn Jessop’s memoir “Escape,” to which Katherine Heigl signed on earlier this year.

The book recounts Jessop's childhood in the polygamist sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints. At the age of 18, she was forced into a marriage with a 50-year-old man; at age 35, she fled with her eight children.

Heigl will not only star in the film, but she'll also serve as producer, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Ellis won two Emmy Awards for writing HBO's miniseries "John Adams." His credits also include "Into the West" and "Anne Frank: The Whole Story."

As for Heigl, she will next star in "The Ugly Truth." She's also attached to star in Fox 2000's comedy "Drawn Together."