Good Deals Not Just a "Memory"
In a deal that shows there is still some signs of life in the material market--especially if you've got a brand name author launching a franchise with reincarnation and young protagonists--New Regency and Peter Chernin won a bidding battle for screen rights to “My Name is Memory,” the first of a three-book series written by Ann Brashares. Deal was high six against seven figures.
Regency acquired the book as Universal chased for Paul and Chris Weitz’s Depth of Field and Warner Bros. pursued for producer Denise DiNovi, who produced the screen adaptation of the Brashares novel “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” for WB.Sold on the basis of a first installment that will be published next June by the Penguin imprint Riverhead Books, the series begins as a college age couple meets, and a young man makes a startling confession. Turns out their souls have been reincarnated over hundreds of years, but these soul mates keep losing each other. While he remembers the details of their previous lives-- and his often exasperating attempts to connect with her romantically—she cannot recall the events of those past lives, nor the rivalry that exists with another soul that keeps getting in the way. The book has elements of “Twilight” and “The Time Traveler’s Wife.”
The acquisition becomes the first major book deal for Chernin since he established Chernin Entertainment as a Fox-based production entity. Chernin will produce with his production chief Dylan Clark. New Regency got an early look at the book through its Gotham-based exec Michelle Kroes.
New Regency has been aggressively acquiring and Chernin is becoming a busy buyer too as he establishes his company. Chernin most recently was in the center of a Fox acquisition of an untitled pitch by Adam Cooper & Bill Collage (“Moby Dick”) that re-telld the tale of Moses and his exploits as detailed in the Book of Exodus.
Chernin also boarded several projects already at Fox, including the John D. MacDonald novel adaptation “the Deep Blue Goodbye,” which is being scripted by Dana Stevens for Leonardo DiCaprio to play Travis McGee. Chernin is producing with Appian Way.
WME brokered the book deal.





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