Artisan Entertainment has acquired worldwide rights to the comedy script Trifecta - the first feature script from the creators of cult US cable TV series Strangers With Candy.

Written by show creators Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert with Strangers actor David Pasquesi (all alumni of Chicago's Second City comedy troupe), Trifecta is a screwball comedy about two hapless brothers who join forces with a pyrotechnic conspiracy theorist in a heist plot to steal an ATM machine. Dinello will direct.

Dinello, Colbert and Pasquesi will star in the film alongside Amy Sedaris, who plays the lead role of Jerri Blank on Strangers With Candy. Aired on the Comedy Central channel in the US, Strangers With Candy tells of the adventures of Jerri, a 46-year-old former prostitute and drug addict who returns to high school.

Trifecta was brought to Artisan's executive vice president Patrick Gunn by producers Victoria Lang and Pier Paolo Piccoli of Plus Films and Ann Marie Spina of SpinaVision. The agreement was brokered by Gunn and Erin Austin, senior vice president, business & legal affairs, and Mark Beigelman on behalf of the producers and the project. Mike Lubin at William Morris Agency represents the film-makers.