Cobra Kai creators to adapt Maryland Powerball Mystery series for Sony

Are you feeling lucky, punk? I certainly hope so because the creators of Cobra Kai want you to enter the lottery. Deadline has confirmed that Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald’s Counterbalance Entertainment, and Sony Pictures Television have acquired the rights to Marc Fischer’s Washington Post article “Powerball mystery: Someone in this tiny town won $731 million. Now everyone wants a piece of it.”

The article, which explores the aftermath of a Powerball ticket sold in Lonaconing, Maryland, highlights several accounts of gold diggers coming out of the woodwork for a cut of the $731 million lottery ticket earnings. You see, there’s a rule in Maryland that allows lottery winners to remain anonymous, and that’s exactly what a group calling themselves “Power Pack” did upon claiming the prize. When the news broke about their good fortune, it attracted the wants and whims from people all over town, including outsiders looking to convince the group to donate to their cause.

According to the Washington Post‘s article, gold diggers poured in from every which way. People showed up from Georgia and Ohio and Arkansas, asking for a piece of the prize to care for an ailing relative, or to save their struggling farm, or to pay for that European trip they’ve yearned to take. A woman in Georgia wrote to the owner of Coney Market asking him to buy her a couple of chain saws for her farm. Another supplicant wanted a piece of the lottery winnings to get her driveway paved.

The rights to the Maryland Powerball mystery had attracted a lot of potential buyers after the article was added to Storied Media Group’s IP subscription platform StoryScout. With seven serious buyers all lining up for a cut of the action, Sony Pictures TV won the bidding, and set Counterbalance to develop and produce the concept.

What would you do if you won $731 million? Would you buy a private island? Quit your job? Purchase a home for your parents? Would you donate a portion of the money to worthy causes across the globe? I’d like to think that I would do all those things and more. I’d also purchase a concert venue, and host some of the most incredible live acts the world has ever seen. I’d also open a comic shop or two. Let us know what you would do with that kind of money in the comments section below.