At a presentation on Wednesday, HBO Max, which is rebranding as just Max in conjunction with Warner Bros. Discovery, announced a new live action Harry Potter TV series. J.K. Rowling will executive produce, along with Neil Blair and Ruth Kenley-Letts, but a writer and showrunner have not yet been selected. Also, “David Heyman is currently in talks to executive produce.” The Hollywood Reporter notes that the series will have a budget “commensurate with those of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon” (the former’s first season had a budget of $125 million). “The stories from each of Rowling’s Harry Potter books […]
Film/TV
Jenna Bush Hager Has First-Look Deal with Universal for Book Adaptations
Jenna Bush Hager has entered into a first-look production deal with Universal Studio Group, Variety reports, focused on optioning books for development. She indicates she is about to hire an executive “from the film and TV worlds” who “can really help create a company that stands by these missions” of finding new authors from diverse backgrounds. It’s unclear the extent to which Bush Hager will focus on optioning on her “Read with Jenna” selections or other titles from her broad reading; she says she read 100 books last year looking for her monthly picks. She says, “I think it will […]
UK Tries TV Show Search for Cookbook Author
Starting January 31, the UK’s Channel 4 will air a seven-episode TV series called The Great Cook Book Challenge with Jamie Oliver. Following a series of cooking challenges among 18 chefs, one winner will get a cookbook publishing deal with Penguin Michael Joseph. The publisher’s managing director Louisa Moore is head judge on the show. She says: “I hope and believe that this show offers an opportunity to showcase one area of publishing to a wider audience in a positive and genuine way, that it can start to help demystify the publishing process, because it is essential and necessary now […]
Newsletter Touts Book Material for Development
Former THR books editor Andy Lewis is writing a weekly column for start-up The Ankler that touts some forthcoming releases still available for film/TV options. Called the Optionist, he writes, “Every Friday, I’ll present un-optioned material from books, magazines, news articles, podcasts, games and graphic novels that I think deserve a look. I will attempt to go beyond hot titles on current lists from your book scouts, and pick out the hidden gems.”
Sebold Film Adaptation Dropped
The Netflix adaptation of Alice Sebold’s memoir LUCKY lost its funding “months ago” and was dropped, Variety reports. Last week, Anthony J. Broadwater was exonerated of all charges after he was wrongly convicted of the rape depicted in the book and film. Former executive producer Timothy Mucciante, whose production company Red Badge Films was bankrolling the production, pulled out of the project in June. He subsequently hired a private investigator to examine evidence and helped to get Broadwater’s conviction overturned.
Netflix to Launch Book Club
Netflix has announced the Netflix Book Club, highlighting titles that will be adapted to Netflix films and TV series. In a partnership with Starbucks, the club will launch a social media series, But Have You Read the Book?, to run on Netflix’s YouTube and Facebook channels. Uzo Aduba will be the inaugural host of the series, and will announce monthly book club selections and interview authors, actors and creators about the adaptations. The first selection for November is Passing by Nella Larsen, which will start streaming as a film on November 10.