Hollywood Reader
by Jason Anthony -- Publishers Weekly, 6/13/2005
This week: Jennifer Weiner's lovely parting gifts and Disney's school for spies. Plus, the French fall for Frank Conroy.
With three film deals under her belt and a major studio movie (In Her Shoes) starring Cameron Diaz on the way, bestselling author Jennifer Weiner probably didn't have to worry whether Hollywood types would show for her BEA party. Her lit agent and editor, however, weren't taking any chances. Along with a swag bag stuffed with Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Joanna Pulcini and Atria's Greer Hendricks promised attendees a special treat: a sneak preview of Weiner's upcoming novel, Goodnight, Nobody (Atria, Sept.). Execs apparently devoured the 60-page partial along with their carb fix, because the next morning Weiner's film manager fielded calls from producers begging to read the full manuscript. Hendricks calls Weiner's fourth novel, about an urban pop-culture journalist who grudgingly moves to a fancy Connecticut suburb and finds her murdered neighbor's body sprawled across the woman's kitchen floor "her best yet. She's always challenging herself." Brother Jake Weiner of BenderSpink Management went on submission to producers last week (sans doughnuts).
L.A. book agents know a finished manuscript is an easier sell than a few sample chapters, but sometimes the concept is so strong it just doesn't matter. Case in point: Disney's preempt last week of I'd Tell You I Love You but Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (Hyperion, spring 2006), based on two chapters and an outline. The YA novel—about a teenage girl attending an elite, all-girls boarding school/ secret spy training academy who finds her spook plans compromised when she falls for a townie—was a no-brainer for the studio behind the $100 million+– grossing teenage girl hits Freaky Friday and The Princess Diaries. The Gersh Agency's Amy Schiffman and Sarah Self had planned to wait for Carter's full manuscript before submitting it for film, but filmies liked the sound of this one too much to wait. Disney's N.Y. scout, Nan Shipley, brought the partial to the studio. Denver-based Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency represents Carter for lit.
Shortly before he died this April of cancer at age 69, Frank Conroy, the former director of the Iowa Writers Workshop received a nice tribute courtesy of the French. Several French companies went after the film rights to his Body & Soul, after it became a surprise bestseller in France earlier this year (12 years after Houghton published it in the U.S.), and the Gallic giant Europacorp has emerged the winner. The fit seems just right in many respects. In addition to being a celebrated author and running the Workshop for 18 years, this Renaissance man was also known as an accomplished jazz pianist (he even won a Grammy in 1986 for the liner notes on a Sinatra album), a form widely embraced by the French.
Body & Soul had made the Hollywood rounds, but had recently fallen out of option. Neil Olson of Donadio & Olson represents Conroy's estate. Judi Farkas of Judi Farkas Management negotiated the film deal.
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