Paramount Pictures have won a competitive auction to the rights for Rebecca Serle‘s bestselling novel One Italian Summer. Temple Hill will produce a feature adaptation, with Serle executive producing with David Stone of TFC Productions.
The novel follows Katy, a young woman reeling from the recent loss of her mom and best friend, Carol. Katy embarks on a trip that was meant to be spent as mother and daughter, over two weeks in Positano. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliff sides, delightful residents and delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.
But things take a supernatural turn when suddenly her mother appears in the flesh — healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Over the course of the summer, Katy not only discovers Carol as a young woman, but more about herself than she expected.
One Italian Summer is just the latest bestseller to be optioned for a film adaptation. Other recent books doing the same include Emily Henry‘s Book Lovers, Michelle Zauner‘s acclaimed memoir Crying In H Mart, and Colleen Hoover‘s ubiquitous It Ends With Us.
This isn’t even the only book adaptation percolating at Paramount, who have also secured the rights to Gabrielle Zevin‘s fantastic Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Tomi Adeyemi‘s Children of Blood and Bone, and Tracy Flick Can’t Win by Tom Perrotta, the sequel to Election.
This also isn’t the first time Serle’s work has been adapted for the screen. Her YA novel When You Were Mine was the basis for recent Hulu film Rosaline, which starred Kaitlyn Dever. Another novel of hers, In Five Years, is currently in development at New Line with Aimee Lagos writing the script.
Bestselling books have always been a great source of content for Hollywood, and even as the industry has changed dramatically over the last century, they continue to be. No word yet on who will be involved creatively with One Italian Summer.
#Peace.Love.OneItalianSummer
