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EXCLUSIVE: We hear that Candle Media’s Hello Sunshine has sold a film adaptation of the Alexene Farol Follmuth New York Times Best Seller Twelfth Knight to Netflix, which Anyone But You scribe Ilana Wolpert will adapt.
Twelfth Knight was a Reese’s Book Club pick and spent four weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list.
Twelfth Knight has a 10 Things I Hate About You meets Easy A sensibility and is a contemporary reimagining of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The story follows 17-year-old Viola Reyes, a kick-ass gamer who has long written off football star and class president Jack Orsimi, until she discovers him playing her favorite online RPG. Sick of all the drama that comes with being a girl in the gaming world, Vi plays under the guise of a male avatar. In getting to know each other via their anonymous online personas, Jack believes he’s found a dude best friend and Vi finds (to her shock and dismay) that there is a lot more to Jack than she gave him credit for. But how can she tell the boy she’s falling for that she’s been lying to him for so long? Ultimately, opening herself up to love allows Vi to put down her armor and explore all the universe has to offer.
Producers on the upcoming film adaptation include Hello Sunshine’s Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Kisilevsky. Follmuth will serve as an EP on the film.
The novel was published in May by Tor Teen. Follmuth also wrote the bestselling The Atlas Six series under the name Olivie Blake.
Anyone But You was a notable cash cow for Sony grossing $220M worldwide off a $25M production cost and netting $103M-plus after all ancillaries. The movie also topped the Netflix charts. Wolpert wrote on the upcoming Amazon series, The Runarounds, and spent three seasons as a writer on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series on Disney +. She is developing an original half hour pilot for Amazon. She is repped by 3 Arts, UTA and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis.
Netflix declined to comment.