Two stories from New York have been optioned through the recent arrangement signed between the ICM agency and the magazine. ICM already represented The New York Times in Hollywood when it added New York as a client in June to better facilitate the transition from non-fiction article to screenplay (and to ensure magazine gets a cut of any revenues).
The deals are happening! And they’re not unexpected: ICM has brokered options for “A Serial Killer in Common,” Robert Kolker’s story about the victims of the Long Island serial killer, and “Paw Paw and Lady Love,” Dan Lee’s account of Anna Nicole Smith’s troubled life. Both were optioned by Sony Pictures TV.
“A Serial Killer in Common” will also be expanded into a book, called Lost Girls. Mr. Kolker wrote that the book “takes a literary-nonfiction approach, focusing not just on the case but on the lives of the women who were murdered.” It was sold to David Hirshey at HarperCollins by Mr. Kolker’s agent, David Gernert, and was the second book based on a New York article to be sold to HarperCollins in a week.
Now, will Mr. Kolker’s book be optioned too? And doesn’t Hollywood only make movies that have already been made?
