DEADLINE – Shailene Woodley is set to star in the title role of Girl Named Sue, the true story of DEA agent Sue Webber-Brown and her role in creating the Drug Endangered Child (DEC) protocol. Fernando Coimbra is directing and Crazyrose partners Jean-Marc Vallée and Nathan Ross (Dallas Buyers Club) are producing with Laura Bickford (Traffic and Beasts of No Nation), whose Flora Films partner Fiona Druckenmiller is exec producer.

The film was written by Lisa Cole and Mark Monroe, the husband & wife team. Mark Monroe wrote the Oscar-winning documentaries The Cove and Icarus. Set in the central California farmland in the ’90s at the height of the crystal meth crisis, Webber-Brown fights her way into the boys’ club of law enforcement where she takes it upon herself to help the small children overlooked during raids. It is a decision that will change her life forever. Risking her career and the safety of her family, she attempts to change the way United States law enforcement and Social Services treat “drug endangered” children, saving thousands of children’s lives. While certain states and counties have mandated Sue’s DEC protocol, it is not yet federal law.

As announced earlier in the week, the project was awarded a tax credit by the California Film Commission.

Vallée and Ross teamed with Woodley on Big Little Lies. The Crazyrose partners are next collaborating with Michael De Luca on the John Lennon and Yoko Ono film for Universal. Woodley is currently starring in Last Letter From Your Lover. Coimbra helmed A Wolf At The Door and eps of Narcos.

The producers said they were elated the California tax credit allows them to shoot in California, where the story took place. The hope is to begin production late February.

Endeavor Content and CAA Media Finance are co-repping North American rights.

Woodley is repped by Hyperion, Management 360, and Felker Toczek; Coimbra is repped by CAA, Echo Lake Entertainment and Ziffren Brittenham.