SARAH LOTZ' IMPOSSIBLE TO BE ADAPTED AS A FEATURE

Filmmaker Siân Heder, whose Sundance hit CODA is set to direct and write a feature take of Sarah Lotz’s upcoming 2022 novel IMPOSSIBLE.

In association with AM Heath, Conrad Williams of the Blake Friedmann Media Department optioned the rights earlier this year to Patrick Wachsberger’s Picture Perfect Federation, who will be working with Black Label Media and Marsh Entertainment to produce the feature adaptation of the novel. You can find out more about our media department’s work with book-to-screen adaptations here.

The Penguin Group Berkley Books novel tells the story of Nick, a ghostwriter who is a disappointment to himself and his soon-to-be-ex-wife, and Bee, a commitment-phobe content on repurposing wedding dresses rather than finding a reason to wear one herself. The two are meant to be together, but fate has other plans. They have an instant connection after a misdirected email lands in Bee’s inbox, and over time they develop real feelings for each other. Eventually, Nick and Bee come to the conclusion that they have to meet in person, yet when they both arrive at their planned destination, they discover it’s love at the right time but in the completely wrong place.

In a joint statement, the producers of Black Label Media added, “We are so excited to re-team with Patrick Wachsberger who we have worked with for many years and collaborated with on such films as Sicario and La La Land. Impossible is an incredible novel and we are thrilled to be working with the wonderfully talented Sian Heder on the adaptation.”

Hodder pre-empts THE THREE by Sarah Lotz in a major six-figure deal

Just days before Frankfurt, Hodder and Stoughton have had a major pre-emptive offer accepted for world rights in THE THREE and one other novel by Sarah Lotz. The offer was made on the strength of a 33 page partial manuscript less than a day after Oliver Munson had submitted to a select group of editors. Rights have so far been sold by Hodder in the US to Reagan Arthur Books, Editrice Nord in Italy and Fleuve Noir in France with auctions and offering underway in many other territories. 

Oli says: "When Anne and Oliver turned up on our doorstep unannounced, I knew they meant business. There was a phenomenal amount of interest in the incredibly brief time THE THREE was on the market but the passion and commitment shown by the two of them quickly convinced both author and agent that Hodder was the right home for Sarah's terrifying imagination"

Hodder will publish THE THREE in February 2014:

The world is stunned when four commuter planes crash within hours of each other on different continents. Facing global panic, officials are under pressure to find the causes. With terrorist attacks and environmental factors ruled out, there doesn't appear to be a correlation between the crashes, except that in three of the four air disasters a child survivor is found in the wreckage.

Dubbed 'The Three' by the international press, the children all exhibit disturbing behavioural problems, presumably caused by the horror they lived through and the unrelenting press attention. This attention becomes more than just intrusive when a rapture cult led by a charismatic evangelical minister insists that the survivors are three of the four harbingers of the apocalypse. The Three are forced to go into hiding, but as the children's behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing, even their guardians begin to question their miraculous survival...

Sarah Lotz is a screenwriter and novelist who has written horror books under the name S L Grey with author Louis Greenberg, and a YA zombie series with her daughter, Savannah, under the pseudonym Lily Herne.

Blake Friedmann Authors at the Franschhoek Literary Festival 2012

The 6th Franschhoek Literary Festival kicks off on Friday 11th May, with many Blake Friedmann authors on the bill. The Sunday Times Fiction Prize and the Alan Paton Award for Non-Fiction shortlists will be announced at a reception on Saturday night.

Blake Friedmann authors Deon Meyer, Michiel Heyns, Margie Orford, Tracey Farren, Sarah Lotz, Henrietta Rose-Innes, Imraan Coovadia, Finuala Dowling  and Ivan Vladislavic are among the authors featured on the programme. More details here.

The Sunday Times Fiction Prize and the Alan Paton Award for Non-Fiction shortlists will be announced at a reception on Saturday night.

Michiel Heyns's Parisian novel INVISIBLE FURIES will also be launched by Jonathan Ball at the Festival.