‘HBO has bought for development You Know You Want This, an anthology drama series project based on Kristen Roupenian’s upcoming short story collection from former The Leftovers scribes Carly Wray and Lila Byock.
Roupenian’s collection will be published in January 2019 by Scout Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Her debut story in The New Yorker, Cat Person, a tale about bad dates that sparked conversations about sexual consent and gender dynamics, became the magazine’s second most-read article of 2017. Cat Person is part of the to-be-published collection but is not included in the deal with HBO.
Byock and Wray, who met while working on Damon Lindelof’s HBO drama series The Leftovers, brought the book to HBO to develop as a potential anthology series that prioritizes female voices – writers, directors, and actors. A graduate of USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program, Wray was most recently a producer on season 2 of Westworld. She got her start on Mad Men, where she began as writer’s assistant and ultimately shared in a Writers Guild Award for the drama series’ final season.Byock is currently a producer on Lindelof’s forthcoming adaptation of Watchmen for HBO. In addition to The Leftovers, she has written for Hulu’s upcoming Castle Rock,and WGN America’s Manhattan. She spent five years on the editorial staff of New Yorker magazine.
Roupenian recently sold her horror-themed script Bodies Bodies Bodies, on spec to A24, where it’s being developed as a feature film.
Wray is repped by WME, Grandview, and attorney Tara Kole of Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown. Byock is repped by CAA and attorney Jamie Mandelbaum of Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer. Roupenian is repped by CAA and Jenni Ferrari-Adler at Union Literary.’
via deadline
The Book to Screen Club 