This week in Page to Screen—PW's weekly column tracking film rights circulating, and sold, in Hollywood—a high schooler who advises herself and a backlist Binchy.
It looks like prolific chick/teen lit author Sarah Mlynowski (Me vs. Me; the Magic in Manhattan series) will see her forthcoming book, Gimme a Call, headed to theaters. Richie Kern at Endeavor sold film rights to the book—which is about a 17-year-old high school freshman senior gets the chance to call her 14-year-old self to dole out advice—to Paramount, with director Andy Fickman (Race to Witch Mountain) attached. Laura Dail at the Dail Agency handled the lit deal, and Delacorte is publishing the book in May 2010.
On the circulation front, L.A. lit agent Charlotte Gusay has just signed the film rights to Maeve Binchy's debut novel, Light a Penny Candle. While backlist books are always a tough sell in Hollywood—Candle bowed in the U.S. in 1983—a number of Binchy's works have been adapted for TV and film. (The Irish author's 1990 book, Circle of Friends, was the basis of the hit 1995 film of the same name, which introduced Minnie Driver to American audiences.) Candle follows a friendship between an English girl and an Irish girl that develops after the Brit is sent up north to live with an Irish clan during WWII; Gusay compared the book to Ian McEwan's Atonement. Gusay is taking the book to independent producers, as well as Irish actors and directors. She's also hoping the book's theme—the plight of women during wartime—will feel fresher given current updates like the cable drama Army Wives.
If you have news to report about books making the rounds in Hollywood--or information on film rights that have sold--send details to rachel.deahl@reedbusiness.com.
