‘It Ends With Us’ Producer Wayfarer Studios Developing Kirsty Greenwood’s Bestseller ‘The Love Of My Afterlife’ For Film; Vicky Jones Scripting

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EXCLUSIVE: On the heels of a huge summer with It Ends with Us, its adaptation of the bestselling novel from Colleen Hoover, Wayfarer Studios is on to another literary adaptation to watch, as the company has won the film rights to Kirsty Greenwood‘s USA Today bestselling romantic comedy The Love of My Afterlife, in a highly competitive situation.

Named Good Morning America’s Book Club pick for the month upon its publication by Penguin Random House this past July, The Love of My Afterlife follows Delphie, a recently deceased woman who after dying by choking on a cheeseburger, finds herself in the afterlife staring at the man of her dreams. As luck would have it, her “one true love,” Jonah, is sent back to Earth, but her afterlife therapist, Merritt, offers her the chance to return for 10 days to find her potential soulmate. Jumping at the opportunity, Delphie enlists her neighbor Cooper, a moody writer and ladies’ man, to help. As she races against time, she must confront her fears, listen to her heart, learn to ask for help, mend broken relationships, and perhaps even see the magic in the life she’s leaving behind to discover what true love really means.

Vicky Jones, creator of the HBO series Run, is adapting the screenplay. The film will be exec produced by Steve Sarowitz and Jamey Heath of Wayfarer Studios, along with Greenwood. Justin Baldoni and Andrew Calof will produce for Wayfarer Studios along with Carla Hacken from Paper Pictures. Angela Cardon will oversee on behalf of Wayfarer Studios and Imene Meziane from Wayfarer Studios executed the deal.

Calling The Love of My Afterlife “an unabashed all-the-way-in romantic comedy, hugely inspired by the high concept romcom movies of the 90s and 2000s,” Greenwood said, “I’m overjoyed to be working with the thoughtful, dynamic team at Wayfarer and Paper Pictures to turn this novel into a movie of our own. The process so far has been a genuine dream come true; I’m so excited for all that’s to come.”

Added Wayfarer’s President of Production & Development, Andrew Calof, “Kirsty Greenwood’s ‘The Love of My Afterlife’ evokes equal measures of both humor and despair while taking readers on a daring journey of self-discovery. We are very excited to adapt this beautiful story about romance, grief, and second chances. Reflecting on the decisions we make and the possibility of choosing differently is something that we all think about.”

Based in London, Greenwood is a best-selling author known for funny, fearless romantic comedies about extraordinary love, who composes musicals in her spare time. Her other works include It Happened on Christmas Eve, Love Will Save the Day, Jessica Beam Is a Hot Mess, Yours Truly, The Movie Star and Me and Big Sexy Love. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, she was a book editor and was also named a 2016 Rising Star in The Bookseller.

In addition to creating HBO’s Run, starring Merritt Wever and Domhnall Gleeson, Jones exec produced the series alongside frequent collaborator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Jenny Robins, eOne and WigWam Films. As a writer, she has worked on Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag and Killing Eve, along with Snatches, a series of monologues for the Royal Court/BBC 4, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA. Alongside Waller-Bridge, she’s also the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of DryWrite, through which she’s commissioned and directed short plays from some of the UK’s leading writing talent, including Joe Penhall, Simon Stephens, Jack Thorne, Lucy Kirkwood and Mike Bartlett, among many others.

One of the most discussed films of the year, Wayfarer’s It Ends with Us has soared at the box office upon its August debut, grossing over $309M worldwide. In addition to directing the romantic drama examining domestic abuse, the independent studio’s Baldoni starred opposite Blake Lively, Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate, and Hasan Minhaj.

Co-founded by Baldoni and Sarowitz and led by CEO Heath, Wayfarer Studios’ current slate also includes Ezra, The Garfield Movie, A Nice Indian Boy, Code 3, The Senior, Empire Waist, PAC-MAN and Eleanor the Great, along with documentary features such as Will & Harper, Racist Trees, The Herricanes  and Black Is Beautiful.