‘Girls Like Girls’ Movie From Pop Star Hayley Kiyoko Lands At Focus Features

EXCLUSIVE: Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to Girls Like Girls, a film that will mark the feature directing and screenwriting debut of pop star, actress, and novelist Hayley Kiyoko.

Based on Kiyoko’s breakthrough hit song and viral music video of the same name, the film tells the universal story of falling in love for the first time and learning to accept yourself along the way.

The multi-hyphenate artist debuted her song, “Girls Like Girls,” in February 2015, followed by a music video release in June 2015 which marked her first experience as a director. The video quickly went viral for its sensitive portrayal of a friendship between two young women evolving into romantic feelings. To date, the song has amassed 140.7M downloads on Spotify and 157.5M video views on YouTube. Kiyoko published a YA novel drawing on characters from her music video in 2023 and saw it debut at #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list for Young Adult Hardcover, remaining in the top 10 for seven consecutive weeks.

Producers of the Girls Like Girls movie include Marc Platt, Katie McNicol, Adam Siegel, and Dee Best for Marc Platt Productions, as well as Michael Philip, Jason Moring, and BuzzFeed Studios’ Richard Alan Reid. Co-written by Kiyoko and Stefanie Scott, who starred in the original music video, the film will be overseen for Focus by Michelle Momplaisir.

Thus far releasing two studio albums and four EPs, Kiyoko’s work has netted her over 1.1 billion streams, 2.3 million YouTube subscribers, and 820 million YouTube views. The winner of the VMA for Push Artist of the Year, she’s toured extensively worldwide and is also known for roles in Lemonade Mouth, Insecure, and more. NPR named Kiyoko one of the “21st Century’s Most Influential Women Musicians” in 2018.

Kiyoko’s collaborator, Scott, has also appeared in films like Insidious: Chapter 3, Jem and the Holograms, and Beautiful Boy, among other projects.

Focus unveiled Edward Berger’s Oscar contender Conclave in October and is set to unveil another major awards prospect, Robert Eggers’ anticipated reimagining of Nosferatu, on Christmas Day.

Kiyoko is repped by CAA, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment for writing/directing, ATC Management for music, AKA Talent and Integral Artists for acting, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes. Scott is repped by More/Medavoy and Gersh.