Page to Screen: Carman's New YA and Sandell's Graphic Memoir

By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 7/30/2009 7:57:00 AM

This week in Page to Screen—PW's weekly column tracking film rights circulating and sold in Hollywood—Patrick Carman’s new YA book makes the rounds, along with Laurie Sandell’s graphic novel.

Brendan Deneen at Fineprint has just started shopping the film rights to Patrick Carman’s 13 Days to Midnight. Carman (Skeleton Creek) has written numerous middle-grade books and this title is due out from Little, Brown in 2010. Days is slated as one of the house’s lead titles and is, according to Deneen, “an edgy teen thriller.” In the novel a boy suddenly and inexplicably becomes invincible. When he decides, with the help of a female classmate, to use his powers for good, he realizes a dark force is following him—he’s been cursed. The titular number comes into play when our hero realizes he has only 13 days to figure out what, or who, is after him. Deneen, who is pitching to both studios and producers, said the novel pulls from a number of horror/thriller/YA touchstones, from Unbreakable to Flatliners and Carrie “with a romantic undertone not dissimlar to Twilight.”

We also hear that Ron Bernstein at ICM is shopping the film rights to Laurie Sandell’s graphic memoir, The Impostor’s Daughter (also known as This Is Not Mt. Rushmore). LB is also the publisher on this title—it’s out this month—about Sandell’s difficult relationship with her Argentinian father, a larger-than-life character who spoke of various exploits, ranging from the battlefield to the classroom. Sandell, who writes for Glamour, chronicles her early adoration for him through to her realization that he’d lied egregiously about his past and even hid criminal behavior. (Sandell interviewed him for a piece in Glamour and, in fact-checking the story, found out he had, among other trespasses, committed credit card fraud.) She also works in battles with her own demons, namely addictions to alcohol and perscription pills. PW called the book “delightfully composed.”