Question: What is a stick of chewing gum, a paper clip and an A-list writer away from a global franchise? According New Line’s Richard Brener that would be the new “MacGyver” feature film which is in the early stages of development.

Richard Dean Anderson (“Stargate: Atlantis,” “SG-1″) starred as the title character in the original television show which ran from 1985 to 1992 on the ABC network. MacGyver the character was an impossibly resourceful secret agent employed by the Phoenix Foundation who would inevitably find himself in perilous situations that would normally mean certain-death, but would somehow escape using nothing more than his Einsteinian mind and a few common objects readily available in his environment.

The highly successful series spawned two TV movies and endless references in throughout pop-culture including frequent mentions of the character in animated sitcom “The Simpsons” and the wildly popular “Saturday Night Live” parody “MacGruber,” played by Will Forte.

Raffaella De Laurentiis is set to produce the film through Raffaella Prods with Martha De Laurentiis and series creator Lee Zlotoff.

As of yet, no writer has been brought on board and it’s not clear whether Anderson will reprise his role as MacGyver or not.