According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. Pictures has pre-emptively picked up Kite, a prison drama from writers Michael Lander and Ryan Roy, for Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Simpson to produce via their Appian Way shingle. Kite also would serve as a potential acting vehicle for DiCaprio.

The story is described as an intense fictional drama that examines corruption in the California prison system. Echoing real-life events, Kite focuses on gang culture and guard corruption in a modern California maximum-security prison.