French production and distribution company HautEt Court will produce the next film from Olivier Assayas, The Pursuit Of Happiness. The film will be shot inEnglish on a $15m budget and written by Douglas Kennedy.

Based on Kennedy's own book, the film is setin post-Second World War New York with McCarthyism as a backdrop.

Haut Et Court chief Carole Scotta says thethree principal roles - two men and a woman in their 30s - will be held bytop-drawer American stars.

Film should shoot in late 2007. Scotta islooking to set up a co-production with the UK and Canada and possibly theStates.

Also on Haut Et Court's slate is the next filmfrom Laurent Cantet, a $4m (3m Euros) project based on the bestseller byFrancois Begaudeau Entre Les Murs.Set in a school in Paris, the film will shoot next summer.

When he's finished with Moliere, Laurent Tirard will move on to Voyage En Amoureux. The romantic comedy is aheterosexual coming out. With a $12m (10m Euros) budget, the film is said to bea reversal of the norm with such touches as the main character's mother beingdevastated by the news her son is not gay.

Lea Fazer will shoot NotreUnivers Impitoyable on a $7.6m (6m Euros) budget inearly 2007. The comedy is about a couple of married lawyers who are up for thesame job.

Marc Fitoussi's first film, La Vie d'Artiste stars Sandrine Kiberlain, DenisPodalydes and Emilie Dequenne. The $4.4m (3.5m Euros) film will shoot inAugust.

Haut Et Court will also present its firstanimated film Piccolo, Saxo Et Compagnie in a world premiere at Annecy. Thefilm is a $9.6m (7.5m Euros) project and will be released by Haut et Court onDecember 20.

Finally, hot screenwriter Abdel Raouf Dafri iscurrently writing Les Tuniques Bleus,a gritty look at a murder in a housing project.