When not writing one of his seemingly endless multitude of legal thrillers, Grisham tends to turn to sports. Pizza is the story of "washed-up NFL quarterback" Rick Dockery, who "finds a new perspective on life" while playing for a semi-professional team in Parma, Italy. Grisham's Bleachers also focused on football, and his non-fictional The Innocent Man mixes baseball and the criminal justice system. Even Grisham's crack at writing screenplays resulted in Mickey, a film about Little League Baseball. Well, that and assumed identities. And being on the run from the IRS. But it's mostly about the baseball thing. The DVD cover even makes sure to tell you that it's a family film, so that you won't mistake the kid on the pitcher's mound for one of those troubled attorneys you'd normally find in a Grisham story.

Grisham was inspired to write Playing For Pizza while in Italy doing research for another book. Now that's how you write off a vacation to Europe as a business expense. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Phoenix Pictures is currently looking for a writer for the project. Maybe if John Grisham isn't on the run and living under an assumed identity as a pizza maker in Parma, he'll make this Screenplay #2.