Pimples, Popcorn and Paperbacks

Once upon a time, there were children's books and films and adults' books and films, and those in between had to choose whichever category was most appropriate. Nowadays, teens are more than catered to—indeed, preteens can't wait to be teens, and adults emulate teens in everything from dress to music to films.

On the book side, Candlewick Press's Susan Hershberg asserted that Candlewick's selection of teen fiction has certainly increased over the years. "It is an important area of focus for us, and we're having great success," she said. "Feed by M.T. Anderson [2002] earned numerous awards; it was a finalist for the National Book Awards and won the Los Angeles Times Young Adult Fiction Prize. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler [August 2003] is already in its fifth printing."

Richard Scrivener, publishing director of Scholastic U.K., agreed. "There has been a significant rise in the success of teenage publishing in the last four or five years," he said. "For us, it has been in two main areas: fantasy, such as Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy [Knopf here], which is being performed by the National Theatre in London and has been optioned for film by New Line; and in what we describe as 'junior Bridget Jones.'Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison [HarperCollins in the U.S.] falls into this category: it has sold well and has been optioned by Paramount/Nickelodeon."

Hollywood has had great results with movies aimed squarely at teens, such as the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films, although these bring in a much broader audience—both younger and older. Film producers are now looking at teen books in order to specifically make teen movies. Two Candlewick titles fall into this category. The first, to be released February 20 (by Disney) is Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, based on the book by Dyan Sheldon. Candlewick is printing an initial 100,000 copies of the tie-in edition and is releasing the sequel, My Perfect Life, in paperback to coincide. The publisher is working with Disney on cross-promotions, including a Hollywood Records soundtrack. The other Candlewick title to hit the big screen this year is Because of Winn-Dixie, based on Kate DiCamillo's Newbery Honor–winning book. Wayne Wang is directing the film starring singer Dave Matthews and Eva Marie Saint. It's scheduled for release on August 13 from 20th Century Fox.

The Gotham Group is an L.A.–based management company, specializing in representing intellectual property and filmmaking talent in the broad "family" arena. Gotham represents the film and TV rights for Simon & Schuster Children's Books and also for Dark Horse Comics. Gotham's Lindsay Williams said, "YA is a misnomer insofar as publishers are continuing to expand what they consider to be YA, and many of these books have very adult themes."

Williams observed that Hollywood's appetite for teen movies is cyclical and that we are currently in the midst of a particularly rapacious phase. "Production companies are looking for high-concept movies for teen girls, which is driven by the success of movies such as [Meg Cabot's] The Princess Diaries [HarperCollins], with the sequel to the first film scheduled for release on the July 4 weekend," he said. Gotham has just made a deal with Disney for the S&S YA novel The Princess and the Pauper by Kate Brian, which John Turtletaub will direct and Gotham produce.

Williams made a distinction between movies for boys and for girls. "All the boys' movies are obvious sci-fi or action subjects, such as [Dark Horse's] Creature Tec, and the girls' movies have more escapist/wish-fulfillment themes," he said. Creature Tec is a graphic novel by Doug Tenappel, and film rights have been optioned to Fox/New Regency. As boys' movies are more expensive, they have to appeal to a larger audience and tend to attract older guys, too. In fact, males between the ages of 16 and 25 are the biggest demographic for movie attendance, so when making a big-budget film such as Lord of the Rings or Master and Commander, this audience has to be part of the equation. Girls' movies are cheaper, with fewer special effects and with young, up-and-coming teen stars, so filmmakers can afford to target that smaller audience.

We will see what success this year brings for teen movies based on books. Miramax is releasing Ella Enchanted, based on the Newbery Honor–winning HarperTrophy novel by Gail Carson Levine on April 22. The film stars the popular Anne Hathaway, with Hugh Dancy and Cary Elwes. Viacom is investing in teen stories too: MTV Books (Pocket) and MTV Films acquired publishing and film rights to The Lost Girls, a first novel by Alex McAulay described by Variety as "a thematic cross between Lord of the Flies and Heathers, with a bit of Deliverance thrown in for good measure." We've come a long way from Pippi Longstocking!