Tupac Shakur biopic shooting to begin soon

The shooting of a biopic based on the life of late rapper Tupac Shakur will start early 2014, once it secures financial backing.

Morgan Creek Productions and Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films are teaming up to co-produce and co-finance the film with an estimated budget of around $45 million.

The two firms are working from a script written by Eddie Gonzalez and Jeremy Hart, with a draft expected to be finished in two weeks, according to Deadline.

The movie will have the rights to use any of Tupac's dense musical catalogue. His mother Afeni Shakur will serve as the executive producer on the project.

Shakur died in 1996 after he was shot at a street corner in Las Vegas. He was 25.