Made Up Stories and producer Lee-Anne Higgins team with Simon Baker to option Emily Perkins’ award-winning novel LIONESS – Bruna Papandrea’s award-winning global film and TV production company Made Up Stories has partnered with producer and agent Lee-Anne Higgins and director, writer and actor Simon Baker (Breath, Boy Swallows Universe) to option bestselling Aotearoa New Zealand author Emily Perkins’ LIONESS.
A recent winner of the prestigious Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, LIONESS is a psychological thriller exploring wealth, class and female reckoning. Praised by the convenor of judges, LIONESS was described as “disturbing, deep, smart, and funny as hell”.
LIONESS will be adapted for television with Baker attached to direct all episodes. Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Katie Amos will produce for Made Up Stories along with Higgins, Baker and Perkins.
In LIONESS, Therese Thorne has married a wealthy older man and built a successful career, but now a fraud investigation threatens her sense of loyalty as well as her reputation. She faces a midlife reckoning about love and complicity, while being drawn to her neighbour, Claire, who offers an enticing, wild, but risky new approach to womanhood.
Made Up Stories and Lee-Anne Higgins said,
“It always starts with a unique voice that compels us to want to bring a great story to screen, and when we first read Emily’s book, we knew immediately this was for us. We are excited to collaborate with truly original creatives in Emily and Simon in adapting this intoxicating book for the screen.”
Emily Perkins said,
“I’m thrilled that LIONESS has been taken on by such strong creative forces as Bruna Papandrea, Lee-Anne Higgins and Simon Baker – it’s great to know they’ve connected with Therese’s story, and I can’t wait to see how they explore it for the screen.”
Simon Baker says,
“A beautiful, witty and searingly honest look at the dichotomy of aspiration and authentic identity in our time. Emily Perkins truly understands the complexity of people and has written characters so rich and engaging that I’m thrilled to be a part of seeing them come to life on the screen.”
The deal was negotiated with The Agency (London). Perkins is represented by Rogers, Coleridge and White.
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Made Up Stories and producer Lee-Anne Higgins team with Simon Baker to option Emily Perkins’ award-winning novel LIONESS
