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 series. She has held the VP Development TV series
Books
EXCLUSIVE: Universal TV has acquired rights to Liza Palmer’s latest book Family Reservations, which it will develop at NBC with writer/executive producer Ilene Chaiken and Keshet Studios. The book, which publishes today, follows culinary pioneer and world-renowned restaurateur Maren Winter, who is nearing retirement. Each of her three daughters is eager to take the reins
“Writing,” Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, screenwriter, and director David Mamet told Bill Maher on Friday’s Real Time, “is just making shit up.” Mamet has made a successful career of that, creating such plays as Glengarry Glen Ross and Speed-the-Plow, and writing/directing such films as Heist, Wag the Dog and Hannibal, among others. Now, he’s out with
What do you do after you’ve spent 13 years as a senior comms exec at NBCUniversal? Write a book, obviously. Traci Saulsberry, who was most recently SVP, Communications for Peacock, has signed with a literary agent and is prepping her own tome. Saulsberry, who worked on shows such as Bel Air, Girls5eva and The Voice
Gita Mehta, whose books transformed Western ideas on India, died today at her home in New Delhi. She was 80. Nicholas Latimer, a vice president and director of publicity at Knopf, where Ms. Mehta’s husband, Sonny Mehta, was president and editor in chief for many years, said the cause was complications of a stroke. Gita
Controversial interview remarks by Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner have led to his removal from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation board of directors. The board administrates the selections for the Hall of Fame museum. The vote to remove Wenner had just one dissenter, reportedly Bruce Springsteen manager Jon Landau. The Rock and
EXCLUSIVE: Disney+ is moving into the contemporary UK thriller space with the greenlight of a series based on Alex Dahl’s parents-worst-nightmare novel Playdate. The Power of the Dog and It’s a Sin producers Tanya Seghatchian, John Woodward and Nicola Shindler are combining to produce the five-parter, which comes from the decorated trio’s Brightstar and Quay
Wednesday star Emma Myers is to lead the BBC’s adaptation of Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Myers, who plays Wednesday’s werewolf roommate Enid Sinclair in the Netflix smash, will star as Pip Fitz-Amobi. Smart and single minded, she isn’t sure about whether, five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by her
Martin Amis, whose 15 novels were must-read for British fiction lovers, died Friday at home in Lake Worth, Florida of esophageal cancer, his wife confirmed. He was 73. Amis’s best-known work is a trilogy of novels: Money: A Suicide Note (1985), London Fields (1990) and The Information (1995). He also had a memoir, Experience, (2000)
EXCLUSIVE: The Bridge creator Hans Rosenfeldt has set his next project, a return to the canon of crime author C.J. Tudor. Having just penned Paramount+’s adaptation of Tudor’s The Burning Girls, Rosenfeldt is now turning his attention to her first novel, 2016’s The Chalk Man. Rosenfeldt is combining once again with UK indie Buccaneer Media,
Screw and The Victim producer STV Studios has optioned upcoming feminist thriller Good Girls Die Last and is adapting for TV. The Scottish producer has landed TV rights for Natali Simmonds’ debut, which will be published later this year. Good Girls Die Last is a darkly comic, feminist thriller, telling the story of Em who,
Simon & Schuster has announced that it will cease distribution of The Book of Animal Secrets by Dr. David B. Agus amid allegations of plagiarism. The Los Angeles Times reports that it found at least 95 separate passages in Agus’ book that appeared almost word for word in other publications that can be found on the
Actor Kirk Cameron went on Fox News Channel on Friday to discuss his fight against libraries who have been turning down story-hour book-reading pitches from the publisher of Cameron’s new children’s book As You Grow. The sit-down came after a reading Thursday a the Indianapolis Public Library drew a sizable crowd — though the library
EXCLUSIVE: Eric I. Lu (The Resident) and Wilmer Valderrama (NCIS) are developing a drama series based on Anthony Almojera’s memoir Riding The Lightning: A Year in the Life of a New York City Paramedic, Deadline has learned. CBS Studios is the studio. Riding The Lightning will follow a veteran team of EMS workers in New
Euphoria star Jacob Elordi is to lead Justin Kurzel and Shaun Grant’s limited series adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Kurzel and Grant’s adaptation had been in development with Fremantle for several years but Sony Pictures Television has taken rights and Sony’s recently-launched Australian label Curio Pictures
George R.R. Martin, whose novel Fire & Blood is the basis for HBO’s House of the Dragon television series, claims he doesn’t get his way on everything concerning the script. In a new interview with fellow fantasy writer David Anthony Durham on the RandomHouseBooks.com website, Martin said he would have picked a different starting point in the story
Lucianne Goldberg, a literary agent who advised her friend Linda Tripp to secretly tape conversations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, has died at age 87 at her home. No cause of death was given by her son, political commentator and author Jonah Goldberg. Lucianne Goldberg was a conservative activist whose agency specialized in right-wing
Gran Torino producer Double Nickel Entertainment is forging a limited TV series about the life of Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law Jo van Gogh-Bonger. The indie has picked up the scripted and doc rights to Jo van Gogh-Bonger: The Woman Who Made Vincent Famous and is co-operating with the Vincent van Gogh museum to tell van Gogh-Bonger’s