EXCLUSIVE: Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories has optioned ‘Darling Girls’ and has begun work on a TV adaptation. The crime novel, which became an instant bestseller in the U.S. and Hepworth’s native Australia upon release this year, is billed as “a page-turning thriller about sisterhood, secrets and…

EXCLUSIVE: Dynamic Television is plotting to turn George Dawes Green’s Southern Gothic crime novel The Kingdoms of Savannah into a TV series. The transatlantic production house has optioned the rights to the book, with writer Sheri Holman (George & Tammy, Palm Royale) attached to write a pilot…

EXCLUSIVE: The Mentalist actor Simon Baker, Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories and Australian agent-producer Lee-Anne Higgins are taking to adapt Emily Perkins’ novel ‘Lioness.’ The trio have optioned the hot book, which comes from bestselling Aotearoa New Zealand author Perkins and won the recent…

EXCLUSIVE: Carolyn Huynh’s debut novel, The Fortunes of Jaded Women, is being adapted as a TV series. Universal International Studios (UIS)-owned Heyday Television, in partnership with Universal Television, acquired the rights in what’s been called a “highly competitive situation.” Heyday boss…

EXCLUSIVE: Heyday Television has acquired adaptation rights to Gillian McAllister's novel Just Another Missing Person. After what’s been described as a “highly competitive situation,” British screenwriter Georgia Pritchett (Succession, Veep) will adapt the story for TV. It’s another example of how…

UPDATE 8 AM PT: Studiocanal has now unveiled Sara Reese Geffroy as SVP of its nascent Studiocanal Stories label and TV series development. She will run the French major’s new literary adaptations division, which was unveiled earlier today, while also supervising the development of Studiocanal TV…

The hunt for book IP continues to drive business. Following what’s been described as a “highly competitive situation,” Universal International Studios (UIS) has bought the rights to author Lucy Foley’s latest novel, The Midnight Feast. The Universal Studio Group (USG)-owned UIS will develop a TV…

EXCLUSIVE: WME has upped Eve Attermann to partner in the books department. Atterman, who has been with WME since 2011, has worked across departments to help agency clients cross over into the book space including thought leaders, journalists, novelists, memoirists, musicians, politicians, and chefs…

Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Elon Musk includes a number of intriguing vignettes involving everyone from Bill Gates to Google co-founder Sergei Brin. Two in particular involve Endeavor chief Ari Emanuel, who reportedly proposed running Twitter for $100 million, not long after Larry David had…

Two years ago, during the lockdown, I wrote that I had become addicted to those little bird-box libraries that make walking here something of a literary pilgrimage. I'm still addicted. And almost two months ago, just before the writers strike began, I made a charming discovery–that one of my…

Will there ever be a great book about the film business as it is now? I still think not. What used to be called The Industry, as it exists today, might be grist for a eulogy, a festival panel discussion or possibly an online technical manual—10 steps to reboot the software that made your last…

Steven A. Sund, the former chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, has inked a book deal with Blackstone Publishing, promising to reveal new details about the infamous day. Courage Under Fire: Under Siege and Outnumbered 58 to 1 on January 6 will be published on January 3, 2023, just before the 2-year anniversary of the…