Fox 2000 has picked up buzzy YA novel SIMON VS THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA, which has been pitched as a John Hughes-esque coming-of-age story. The debut novel by Becky Albertalli will be adapted by scribes Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker. Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen and Isaac Klausner of Temple Hill Entertainment produce, along with Pouya Shahbazian of New Leaf Literary & Media. New Leaf’s Chris McEwen will be associate producing.
The book centers on sixteen year-old Simon Spier, a closeted gay student. After one of his personal emails falls into the wrong hands, his secret is threatened to be exposed. Simon quickly makes moves to forge a new image and step out of his bubble in a way that won’t “alienate his friends, compromise himself, or ruin a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he hasn’t even met yet.”
The novel hit stands last April via HarperCollins and was brought into the studio by Erin Simonoff and Molly Saffron. Acquiring the novel wasn’t a rare move for Temple Hill, as the shingle has forged a name for itself in the YA space with hit adaptations The Maze Runner, Paper Towns, and The Fault in our Stars. Shahbazian too is familiar with the genre, as he produces the popular Divergent franchise.
Aptaker and Berger have a deal at 20th Century Fox, where they currently serve as supervising producers on the John Stamos-led comedy Grandfathered, which just got a full season pickup.
—TO SEE ALL THE PROJECT DETAILS CLICK HERE—
Clark Allen | Associate Editor
