EXCLUSIVE: is creating a TV adaptation of Stephen Lloyd Jones’ The String Diaries with Geek Woman producer RubyRock Photos and Sony Studios.
RubyRock boss Zoë Rocha revealed the early-stage challenge to Deadline alongside an adaptation of Justin Somper’s Vampirates e book sequence, whereas lifting the lid on Netflix‘s upcoming Geek Woman adaptation.
Lightfoot, who show-ran Apple TV+’s Shantaram and Netflix’s The Punisher, is at present penning the pilot and the challenge doesn’t but have a purchaser. Sony Studios can also be hooked up.
The String Diaries was revealed a decade in the past and is a supernatural thriller following a household that come into possession of diaries handed down from mom to daughter for the reason that nineteenth century. Lloyd Jones’ debut extends from the current day to Oxford within the Seventies to Hungary on the flip of the nineteenth century, tracing again to a person from an historical royal household with a consuming ardour.
Lightfoot can also be engaged on MGM+/Prime Video’s Spider-Man spin-off Noir, a reside motion sequence that’s set to star Nicolas Cage.
Books which have “slipped the cracks”
The String Diaries challenge speaks to RubyRock’s technique to adapt novels that will have “slipped the cracks 5 to 10 years in the past” in what’s an intensely aggressive e book market, Rocha mentioned. “All the things is occurring pre-empts and is so past our worth bracket however there may be a lot content material on the market that slips via,” she added. “[Slightly older novels] are a extremely good place to look.”
With this in thoughts, RubyRock is creating a sequence adaptation of the Vampirates novels, six books revealed between 2005 and 2011 about twins who get separated at sea and are picked up by two very totally different ships. RubyRock is working with LA’s Capricornia Content material and Australia’s Princess Photos on the difference, and the producers are looking for a showrunner.
Rocha praised the “lavish world” created by Somper and mentioned the books stand for “every part we are attempting to develop on the firm,” which was launched 5 years in the past by the Moone Boy exec.
“We need to make stuff that’s entertaining and humorous however has some nutritional vitamins within the ice cream,” added Rocha. “That is escapist and exquisite however makes you suppose.”
‘Geek Woman’
Geek Woman. Picture: Netflix
Much more instantly for RubyRock is Netflix’s Geek Woman, the difference of Holly Smale’s first novel in a e book sequence a couple of neurodivergent teen mannequin, which has been made with Canada’s Waterside Studios and Plane Photos and can launch on Might 30.
Starring Home of the Dragon’s Emily Carey and Trade’s Sarah Parish and co-adapted by Smale, the story follows Harriet Manners, whose life is turned the wrong way up when she is scouted to be a mannequin and embarks on a life-affirming journey of self-discovery as she balances highschool and excessive vogue.
The present is being made in a “bubble of its personal,” Rocha mentioned, however she shared a want to duplicate a “fraction of the success” of Netflix YA smash Heartstopper, coming at a time when YA reveals are dominating worldwide streamer charts resembling Prime Video’s Maxton Corridor – The World Between Us, which has simply turn into Amazon’s most profitable worldwide present of all time in its first week.
“When [Netflix] made Heartstopper they’d the pure intent of claiming, ‘It is a factor we’re doing in our bubble’ after which it caught the zeitgeist,” she added. “We needed that very same feeling of making one thing in just a little bubble of its personal after which seeing what occurs.”
Geek Woman might be a giant leap forwards for neurodivergent illustration on TV however Rocha mentioned the creators have been at pains to ensure the protagonist’s autism was incidental to the plot, whereas script consultants helped guarantee they didn’t “lean into stereotypes or do something reductive.”
Smale herself is neurodivergent however was recognized only some years in the past aged 39, after she had written Geek Woman.
“Harriet is many issues and a kind of issues is neurodivergent however that isn’t her solely defining attribute,” mentioned Rocha. “We needed to do a neurodivergent present that makes a big part of the viewers really feel seen however we additionally needed to create one thing business that appeals to everybody.”
The cut-throat world of vogue additionally takes up a good bit of Geek Woman’s airspace. For this ingredient, Rocha had tonnes of expertise to attract from her father and sister, who’re each vogue designers.
The staff had entry to her former BFA Designer of the Yr father John Rocha’s archive and used consultants with the intention to “give as robust a illustration throughout the entire of the style business as attainable.”
She acknowledged the style world has modified for the reason that days her 70-year-old father was rising via the ranks.
“The way in which fashions have been scouted was once old style however this has moved on a lot,” she added. “We’ve got an obligation of care to younger individuals coming into that world and we needed to the touch on a few of these themes of how managing individuals and taking care of expertise has shifted. We needed individuals to know that is now a world they might work in.”