What is Toy Monster about? Michelle Trachtenberg was working on a screenplay based on the book before her untimely death, says producer

Late actress Michelle Trachtenberg was reportedly working on a screenplay based on a book about the American toy manufacturing company Mattel before her untimely death. Casey Tebo, a producer also attached to the project, revealed details about the same.

In an interview with PEOPLE, Casey Tebo claimed that he received Michelle Trachtenberg's screenplay based on the book Toy Monster by Jerry Oppenheimer years ago. He said:

“I don't remember when, but my dear friend Jay Cohen (Michelle's boyfriend) sent me a script she [Trachtenberg] had written called Toy Monster. The only scripts I remember staying with me like that in recent memory were two. Here Comes The Flood by Simon Kinberg and Toy Monster around 2019. Because they were the two best, by a landslide."

According to Tebo, Michelle Trachtenberg's script was based on the 2009 book Toy Monster: The Big, Bad World of Mattel by Jerry Oppenheimer. The book was about the “big, bad world of Mattel” and its allegedly controversial corporate practices.

Oppenheimer's work was based on various exclusive interviews and reviews of public and private records and investigated the dark side of one of the world's largest toy companies.

Tebo described the script as a "sharp biting dramedy about a maniac toy executive set in the 1950s." The producer revealed that the other script he received in 2019 by Kinberg was sold to a studio, although Trachtenberg's script remained out of the radar.

Michelle Trachtenberg was found dead in her New York City apartment on February 26, 2025. The actress's family did not consent to an autopsy and the cause of death remained undetermined. She had reportedly undergone a liver transplant ahead of her untimely death.

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Casey Tebo reveals they are working to bring Michelle Trachtenberg's screenplay Toy Monster to the screens

"Geezer" Premiere - 2016 Tribeca Film Festival - Source: Getty

In his aforementioned interview with PEOPLE, Casey Tebo revealed that despite Trachtenberg's death, he is working to bring her screenplay to the screen. The producer, alongside his manager Nick Terry and Michelle Trachtenberg's boyfriend Cohen, are "determined" to bring her work to the big screen.

Tebo also revealed that they have come across an "angel investor" who could help the project come to fruition. The alleged producer reached out to him hours after he made a post about the script online. He said:

"We’re putting the pieces together to get this film made for Michelle. (...) Maybe Michelle is looking out for us. I've never been a superstitious or spiritual person, but things like that [finding an investor] are hard to deny.

Tebo further spoke about the various stereotypes that are prevalent in the Hollywood industry. He added that people were never able to see Michelle Trachtenberg beyond her characters, such as Harriett the Spy from the titular film or Georgina Sparks from Gossip Girl.

"One of the issues with our industry is they will recognize someone like Simon as a great writer, but they will always look at Michelle as Harriet the Spy or Georgina Sparks. The truth is - Michelle was an incredible writer. But no one expects her to write like that. It's about the struggle for credit, compensation, and recognition for success. Something Hollywood knows nothing about I'm sure," Tebo said.

Tebo also revealed that there was once a time when Michelle Trachtenberg came close to selling her screenplay to a studio. However, the executive who was dealing with it "moved on" from the studio, which left her project "in limbo."

For those uninformed, Casey Tebo is known for his 2020 directorial, Black Friday.

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Following Michelle Trachtenberg's death, multiple former co-stars of the actress, including Blake Lively, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Chace Crawford paid their tributes to the actress. She will be remembered for her work in projects like Gossip Girl, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Ice Princess, and Harriet The Spy.