Barcelona-based production outfit Rodar Y Rodar is set to produce the romantic screwball comedy The Barcelona Connection with the UK’s Maravilla Pictures and US-based Blue Engine Entertainment.

The film’s script has been written by Tim Parfitt, the former managing director of Conde Naste Spain. It tells the story of a hapless US art expert who arrives in Spain to examine newly discovered Dali paintings but falls in love and gets caught up in a kidnapping. At the same time, the US president arrives for a world peace conference.

 “We are currently looking for a director and financing for the project, which will shoot in Barcelona,” Joaquin Padro, a producer and partner at Rodar Y Rodar, told ScreenDaily. He added that the project has also had interest from some of the US studios.

It is hoped that the clumsy art detective can be developed into a book and film franchise. The Barcelona Connection will be followed by Goodbye, Goya and Pinching Picasso.