Good afternoon: In this edition of the IP Scout, we will cover:
Hot properties: spotlights the week’s authors whose work is being adapted by major studios/production companies, and who have other novels with strong screen potential.
Bestsellers: the top authors from the top bestseller lists whose work is ripe for Film/TV.
Lovecraft: In honor of the first look stills from the new Herbert West: Reanimator movie, here are three Lovecraftian stories that would make excellent adaptations.
Internet property: from creepypastas like Slender Man, to web-series like The Backrooms, this section highlights an intriguing internet property perfect for adaptation.
Hidden Gem: a spotlight on an unknown book that could make for a phenomenal film.
HOT PROPERTIES
Book 1: Carley Fortune’s Our Perfect Storm
Keywords: Film, Indie Rom-Com, Friends-to-Lovers, Travel
Synopsis:
Frankie and George have been best friends since they were eight years old. Both passionate, impulsive, and headstrong - they’ve always clashed… and come back together. Until now. It’s the eve of Frankie’s wedding weekend, and she doesn’t know where they stand or even if George will show up as her best man.
Then, at the start of the festivities, in walks George. For one glorious evening, surrounded by her loved ones, Frankie’s life is finally perfect. But it all comes crashing down when her fiancé dumps her the next morning.
Crushed and confused, Frankie returns to her family’s home to wallow. But George has a different idea and a plan for healing Frankie’s broken heart. He wants her to go on her honeymoon. With him. For one week, to the lush rainforests and misty beaches of Tofino.
Frankie agrees, seeing the trip for what it really is: one last chance to repair their friendship. Even if it means unearthing secrets and long-buried feelings neither knows how to handle.
Our analysis:
The friends-to-lovers model makes a great rom-com (My Best Friend’s Wedding, Made of Honor), which is why Our Perfect Storm should be adapted as a feature film. Rather than a mid- or large-budget project, such as Universal’s latest destination feature You, Me & Tuscany, this project can take inspiration from low-budget, big-heart rom-coms such as Searchlight’s Rye Lane (2023) starring future Black Panther star David Jonsson. The recipe for Rye Lane’s charm was great cast chemistry and a heartfelt understanding of place (South London) - in the case of Our Perfect Storm, that would be Tofino, Vancouver Island. As for cast, I can see Canadian actor Maisy Stella (My Old Ass) and Caleb McLaughlin (Stranger Things), who showcased their talents for romantic plots in their previous work.
Why it’s hot: A great rom-com from Fortune whose bestselling novel, This Summer Will Be Different, is being adapted by Netflix into a feature starring Sophie Nélisse (Heated Rivalry, Yellowjackets).
Book 2: Mikita Brottman’s Couple Found Slain
Keywords: Limited series, True Crime Drama, Insider Look, Institution
Synopsis:
On February 21, 1992, 22-year-old Brian Bechtold walked into a police station in Port St. Joe, Florida, and confessed that he’d shot and killed his parents in their family home in Silver Spring, Maryland. He said he’d been possessed by the devil. He was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and ruled “not criminally responsible” for the murders on grounds of insanity.
But after the trial, where do the “criminally insane” go? Brottman reveals Brian’s inner life leading up to the murder, as well as his complicated afterlife in a maximum security psychiatric hospital, where he is neither imprisoned nor free. During his 27 years at the hospital, Brian has tried to escape and been shot by police, and has witnessed three patient-on-patient murders. He’s experienced the drugging of patients beyond recognition, a sadistic system of rewards and punishments, and the short-lived reign of a crazed psychiatrist-turned-stalker.
Our analysis:
True crime is a genre that captivates audiences, from the inner workings of criminal masterminds as in Netflix’s Inventing Anna, to the truly dark, as we saw in another Netflix show, Dahmer. The interest lies partly in the morbidity, but also in the access to knowledge and details that are usually highly inaccessible - and this is the key to Couple Found Slain. As a limited series, it would introduce viewers to life in a maximum-security psychiatric hospital, in a true crime version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Why it’s hot: Apple TV is adapting Brottman’s novel Guilty Creatures, with Julia Garner (Weapons, Ozark) starring and EPing. Couple Found Slain promises to be a true crime version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
BESTSELLERS
Book 3: Christina Lauren’s My Favorite Half-Night Stand
Keywords: Film, Rom-com, Lighthearted, Double-life
Synopsis:
Millie has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single.
So when a routine university function turns into a black-tie gala, Millie and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic.
But online dating isn’t for the faint of heart. While the guys are inundated with quality matches and potential dates, Millie’s first profile attempt garners nothing but dick pics and creepers. Enter “Catherine” - Millie’s fictional profile persona, in whose make-believe shoes she can be more vulnerable than she’s ever been in person. Soon “Catherine” and Reid strike up a digital pen-pal-ship… but Millie can’t resist temptation in real life, either. Soon, Millie will have to face her worst fear - intimacy - or risk losing her best friend, forever.
Our analysis:
Just like You’ve Got Mail in the ‘90s, it’s fun to have a rom-com with a modern twist. In a post-Catfish world, we’re all familiar with online personas, as well as the trials of online dating. This story gives that a twist, pairing it with a tough, no-nonsense protagonist reminiscent of Sandra Bullock’s tomboy FBI agent in Miss Congeniality. In the role of Millie, I can see Kaya Scodelario (Skins, Crawl), whose role as a criminal syndicate boss in The Gentlemen shows she has the tough aspect down. As for Reid, who is a more open and honest character, I can see Will Sharpe (The White Lotus, Flowers) being great.
Why it’s hot: A throwback rom-com from Christina Lauren, whose previous novel, The Romance Revival, is a Bestseller.
Book 4: Alison Espach’s Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance
Keywords: Film, Tragi-romance, Coming-of-age, Haunting the narrative
Synopsis:
The summer before Sally Holt starts the eighth grade begins as a gloriously uneventful one. It’s full of family trips to the beach and long afternoons at the local pool with her older sister Kathy, which they mostly use as an excuse to ogle Billy Barnes, who works the concession stand there. A rising senior and local basketball star, Billy has been an unending source of intrigue for both girls since he jumped off the school roof in fifth grade, and their fascination with him is one of the few things the increasingly different sisters have in common. By summer’s end, Billy and Kathy are an item - an unthinkable stroke of luck that ends in an even more unthinkable tragedy.
Set over the course of fifteen years, Sally addresses Kathy before, during, and after her death. We watch as Kathy’s absence creates a gaping hole that only Billy - now firmly off-limits to Sally - understands and might possibly begin to fill. Charting years of their shared history and missed connections, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is both a breathtaking love story between two broken people who are unexplainably, inconveniently drawn to each other, and a wry, sharply observant coming-of-age story that looks at the ways the people we love the most continue to shape our lives long after they’re gone.
Our analysis:
This tragi-romance combined with a coming-of-age story brings to mind properties such as The Fault in Our Stars or The Spectacular Now. Adding in the adult plot line, I can see this being a special romantic movie with a darker emotional twist, in the same vein as Silver Linings Playbook.
Why it’s hot: A sophisticated coming-of-age romance from Espach whose other novel, The Wedding People, is a Bestseller and is being adapted by TriStar.
Book 5: Freida McFadden’s The Perfect Son
Keywords: Series, Psychological Thriller, Crime, Mother-child bond
Synopsis:
Erika Cass has a perfect family and a perfect life. Until the evening when two detectives show up at her front door.
A high school girl has vanished from Erika’s quiet suburban neighborhood. The police suspect the worst--murder. And Erika’s teenage son, Liam, was the last person to see the girl alive.
Erika has always sensed something dark and disturbed in her seemingly perfect older child. She wants to believe he’s innocent, but as the evidence mounts, she can’t deny the truth - Liam may have done the unthinkable.
Now she must ask herself: how far will she go to protect her son?
Our analysis:
After McFadden’s other book, The Housemaid, was adapted into the Paul Feig feature that captivated audiences, I believe a similar high-intensity psychological thriller can be explored in a series format, focusing on the subject of a criminal child.
The series would be able to capitalize on its similar themes to the successful Netflix series Adolescence, but focus more on the mother-child dynamic - sharing DNA with Lynne Ramsay’s chilling masterpiece We Need to Talk About Kevin. Both aforementioned productions were supported by an incredible actor playing the son (Owen Cooper and Ezra Miller). A strong choice for this role would be Kayo Martin, who chills to the core in his role as the arch-bully Jake in Charlie Polinger’s The Plague.
Why it’s hot: A Netflix’s Adolescence-type book from McFadden, who authored The Housemaid, adapted into Lionsgate’s smash hit directed by Paul Feig.
LOVECRAFT
In honor of the first look stills from the new Herbert West: Reanimator movie from Woodlake Entertainment, here are three works by seminal horror author H. P. Lovecraft that would make excellent adaptations.
Story 6: The Whisperer in Darkness
Keywords: Film, Indie, Backwoods Horror, Supernatural
Synopsis:
The story is told by Albert N. Wilmarth, an instructor of literature at Miskatonic University in Arkham. When local newspapers report strange things seen floating in rivers during a historic Vermont flood, Wilmarth becomes embroiled in a controversy about the reality and significance of the sightings, though he sides with the skeptics.
After striking up a friendship with a man living on the outskirts of an uninhabited Vermont hill, Wilmarth starts to uncover old legends about the creatures living there.
Our analysis:
To me, this is Lovecraft’s most frightening story, featuring his trademark climactic reveal of a horrifying truth. It would be best suited as a mid-low budget horror film shot on location in Vermont’s Green Mountains. The slow burn would see Wilmarth’s paranoia grow as he is first tormented by cultist humans, then hunted by ancient alien creatures.
By using techniques shown in forest-horrors such as The Blair Witch Project and The Ritual, scares can be conjured up cheaply and effectively - saving budget for the final, terrible reveal. This project would suit an indie horror company such as Shudder (Late Night With the Devil, Skinamarink) or Bloody Disgusting (V/H/S).
Story 7: The Shadow over Innsmouth
Keywords: Series, Mystery, Cosmic Horror, Conspiracy
Synopsis:
The story follows the narrator, a student conducting an antiquarian tour of New England, as he travels through the nearby decrepit seaport of Innsmouth. Here he interacts with strange people, witnesses disturbing events, and uncovers a conspiracy that leads to horrifying and personal revelations that challenge his own sanity.
Our analysis:
This story can perfectly be expanded into a limited mystery series, as Lovecraftian themes and mystery go hand in hand - for example, the first season of True Detective pulled on cosmic horror sources. The series can follow our protagonist as he is pulled into the strange town of Innsmouth, prising secrets out of the guarded locals until he tumbles into a rabbit hole of cosmic conspiracy. From there, the question will be whether he can escape his horrific destiny.
This more ambitious project would be suited to a mainstream streamer - for example, Netflix or Prime could look to draw in a horror-loving audience currently captivated by Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay.
Story 8: The History of the Necronomicon - and Others
Keywords: Series, Cosmic Horror, Anthology, Connected Mythos
Synopsis:
This text describes the creation of the occult Grimmoire that haunts many of Lovecraft’s tales, the Necronomicon.
Our analysis:
Lovecraft mostly wrote short stories and novellas, which are perfectly suited to an anthology series format. In History of the Necronomicon, it is stated that only five institutions hold copies of the book:
The British Museum - London, UK
The Bibliothèque nationale de France - Paris, France
Harvard’s Widener Library - Massachusetts, USA
The University of Buenos Aires - BA, Argentina
The library of the fictional Miskatonic University is also in the fictitious town of Arkham, Massachusetts, USA
The anthology can spend an episode in each of these locations, taking inspiration from other Lovecraft works that feature the Necronomicon, including The Dunwich Horror and The Festival. Each of these episodes will reveal another terrifying facet of the evil tome and its relation to the pantheon of alien Gods that inhabit the cosmos.
Similarly to other anthology works like Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (Netflix) and the V/H/S series (Bloody Disgusting), these episodes can be created by up-and-coming horror directors. Charlie Polinger (IFC’s The Plague), Emilie Blichfeldt (Shudder’s The Ugly Stepsister), and Prano Bailey-Bond (Vertigo’s Censor) would all be excellent choices.
INTERNET PROPERTIES
Property 9: Ted Hegemann’s Ted the Caver
Keywords: Film, Indie horror, Found Footage, Unexplained phenomena
Synopsis:
It is presented as the online diary of a man who excavates an unexplored cave with his friend (and dog). As he unearths the passage further, the entries become increasingly unsettling.
Our analysis:
A classic creepypasta presented in the form of journal entries uploaded to an anglefire website in early 2001. This would make the perfect low-budget horror film, by setting it in the modern day and using the found-footage genre/trope to record the story, much like Grave Encounters or REC. Found footage can sometimes feel clumsy if there isn’t a good reason for a recording to take place - but by having Ted and his friend wearing GoPros on their helmets, as extreme sportspeople often do, it will give the film a sense of realism. Like a mixture between The Descent and The Borderlands, I can see this becoming a low-budget hit - just the image of a Jack Russell terrier disappearing into the void of a cave would be enough for a trailer.
HIDDEN GEM
Book 10: Tara Westover’s Educated
Keywords: Limited series, True story, Coming-of-age, Inspirational
Synopsis:
Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
Our analysis:
This fantastic and inspirational true story would be best dramatized as a limited series, in a similar vein to the upcoming Apple TV series I’m Glad My Mom Died, starring Jennifer Aniston, as well as Netflix’s Maid. Although it tells the story of overcoming familial hardship and restrictive religious ties, a core theme of the novel is the transformative nature of learning.
Each episode could be set around a period of Westover’s life, which would correspond to a different classroom or campus, showing her progression not just in education but in self-development. A mixture of tragedy and inspiration, it would be reminiscent of the Nat Geo documentary Blink.
See you next week!
Written by Molly Wise.
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