A Young Adult novel by a debut author is generating a lot of buzz in the publishing and movie industry. So much so that Harper Teen and Universal already own the book and movie rights.
The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, the first book in a trilogy following a 17-year-old who must assume the role of a lost princess in order to save her family, will not hit store shelves until winter 2015, publishing rights have already been sold in 16 different languages around the world.
Despite the long wait until the book, a film adaptation is already in the early stages of development. Universal has signed Gennifer Hutchison to pen the script, Variety reports. The writer is best known for her work on Breaking Bad. She was nominated on Thursday for a Writers Guild Award thanks to her “Confessions” episode, and is nominated with the other writers for the show on a whole.
Earlier this year Aveyard wrote about having the perfect opportunity to pitch her YA book idea. “A year ago, I had just graduated USC with a BFA in Screenwriting. I wanted (and still want) to be David Koepp. I wanted to write blockbuster, popcorn, gotta-see-it-at-midnight movies. And for some reason, a television pilot I wrote landed me a general meeting at Benderspink. (LUCK). After I pitched another TV pilot and a dumb movie idea, I heard luck whispering in my ear. Screw it. Pitch what you’ve been thinking about.”
“So I told them I wanted to write the next big YA novel. I knew it was cocky to say, but that’s what I wanted and I was mid-meeting, so I was firing on all cylinders. Turns out, Benderspink had just sold the rights to Dan Krokos’ The Planet Thieves, so books were on the brain. I pitched writing a YA novel to them at exactly the right time.”
We look forward to reading The Red Queen! Too bad it’s so far away from release.