Michelle Trachtenberg made a name for herself in Hollywood as an actor, but before her death on Feb. 26, 2025, the 39-year-old Gossip Girl alum had reportedly been working on a screenplay. According to TMZ, Trachtenberg was even close to inking a deal on the screenplay after years of trying to make it happen when she died. 

Trachtenberg almost inked a screenplay deal shortly before her death

Speaking to the outlet, director and producer Casey Tebo shared how Trachtenberg, who was found unresponsive in her New York apartment by her mother, had written a screenplay. Not just any screenplay, but one of the best he’s ever read. 

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star’s inspiration? Toy Monster: The Big, Bad World of Mattel, a 2009 book written by Jerry Oppenheimer. The biopic drama told the story of Jack Ryan, a man who traded his job designing missiles at the Pentagon for a chief engineer position at Mattel during the creation of Barbie and Hot Wheels, among other iconic toys. 

What’s more, Tebo revealed that he and Trachtenberg very nearly inked a deal with a studio to bring the movie to the big screen in the months before her death. A “very successful finance studio” had expressed interest in the project, which is now on hold because of the Harriet the Spy star’s death. 

There’s a chance Trachtenberg’s biopic screenplay may still happen

Tebo continued, saying he’d like to make the project happen in Trachtenberg’s honor. They’d spent years shopping the screenplay around Hollywood only to come close to signing a deal in the months before her death. He also shared that Trachtenberg’s “brilliant” work impressed studios during pitches. 

Trachtenberg, along with other celebrities such as Shannen Doherty, was left out of the Oscars’ In Memoriam segment at the 97th Academy Awards on March 2, 2025.