Xanax, Anyone?
When the Gersh Agency's Amy Schiffman begins shopping Jane Heller's Some Nerve (coming from Morrow in September) to a select list of actresses this week, she's hoping to get their attention with a prescription bottle of (fake) Xanax—in honor of the novel's anxiety-prone heroine. The tale, described as a cross between The Devil Wears Prada and Grey's Anatomy, stars a celebrity reporter whose fear of flying prevents her from interviewing a hunky movie star—and gets her fired. She retreats to her family home in the Midwest and (surprise!) chances upon the same star at the local hospital. Heller is repped by Ellen Levine of the Trident Media Group for lit.
Murderers Only
Ever since Jack the Ripper terrorized Victorian-era London, the Brits have generated their share of fictional murderers. The newest addition to that merry band? The anonymous narrator of Jeff Povey's debut novel, The Serial Killers Club, out this month from Warner Books. A parody of paint-by-the-numbers thrillers, the twisty tale follows a nameless protagonist as he "accidentally" joins the titular organization—a group of "skillers" who adopt movie stars' names to mask their identities. The hero turns the tables by targeting his colleagues instead. Povey, who wrote for the BBC's Eastenders, has adapted his own script, which is currently out with producers and generating "serious interest," according to Felicity Aldridge at Valerie Hoskins Associates Ltd. in London. Aldridge reps Povey in the U.K.; Barbara J. Zitwer reps him in New York.
Briefs...
A pair of projects targets the gritty side of Greek life on campus. Andrew Jay Cohen, an ex-assistant of Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin), and Brendan O'Brien have been tapped to adapt Will Clarke's The Worthy: A Ghost's Story (S&S, July) for producers Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher of Red Wagon. The dark comedy is narrated by a dead frat boy who tries to take down a killer, a fellow Gamma Chi at LSU.... Herbie: Fully Loaded director Angela Robinson will spearhead Paramount's Pledged, an adaptation of Alexandra Robbins's nonfiction book of the same name, about the sordid world of sororities. Jill Soloway (Six Feet Under) penned the adaptation.
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