Entire Costa series optioned for TV
Monday, January 24, 2011 at 3:12PM I’m delighted, as you might imagine, to be able to pass on this news release from my literary agency Blake Friedmann…
The Blake Friedmann Agency is pleased to announce that a deal has been signed between David Hewson and Bavaria Media Italia for all eleven of Hewson’s contemporary crime novels based in Italy.
Bavaria Media Italia optioned screen rights in order to develop and produce a major international series of six television movies. The series is planned to be shot in English by Bavaria which will work in conjunction with co-production partners from several European territories. Bavaria’s Philipp Kreuzer will Executive Produce the series; Bavaria Media TV will handle international sales. The concept for the series is currently being written in Rome.
The deal was negotiated for Hewson by Conrad Williams of Blake Friedmann’s Film/TV department and for Bavaria by Philipp Kreuzer and legal counsel Georg Hoess.
Said David Hewson: “It is enormously flattering to have eleven of your books snapped up for option in one swoop and with such high ambitions for English language, feature length TV dramas. There is a lot of work to be done on a project of this magnitude. I am happy that it has already started.”
Bavaria plans to develop and partner this series in 2011 with production slated for 2012. It will be shot on location in and around central Rome.
I’m very grateful to Conrad Williams of Blake Friedmann for concluding this very wide-ranging agreement. Bavaria are one of the biggest media groups in Europe and have optioned all current ten books in the series, including two yet to be published titles, The Fallen Angel and next year’s The Plague Doctor. They have also optioned the standalone The Cemetery of Secrets (US Lucifer’s Shadow) which ties in with the fourth Costa book, The Lizard’s Bite. It’s particularly gratifying that, while these are destined to be English language productions, the initial interest came from Rome where, as the release says, the project will be based.
And quick answers to two questions I’m being asked already…
- Will you write the scripts? No. I’m a novelist, not a scriptwriter, but I will be there to offer my thoughts if needed.
- Who will play Costa, Teresa, Peroni… Sorry… far too early to say.
When there is more news I’ll happily pass it on.
Reader Comments (30)
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by David Hewson, Carole Benson, Keith B Walters, Worakarn Isaratham, Marshall Buckley and others. Marshall Buckley said: Congratulations! RT @david_hewson: Entire Costa series optioned for TV: http://wp.me/p11hIG-1LA [...]
That is excellent news. I am happy for you. I look forward to them as I am in the process of finishing up reading the first Nic Costa book.
David, my congratulations!!! It's really wonderful news!!! I'm delighted to hear it. But on the other hand I'm afraid that the images of Costa, Teresa, Peroni, Falcone and other characters created by a reader in his or her mind can be so to speak... distorted. Though I'm sure you'll be the most exacting critic as far as the casting is concerned.
Oh brilliant news!
Mary
Whoever gets cast people will say 'That’s not how I imagine them!' But I'm happy to say those decisions are some way off. Scripts have to be written first among other things.
That's amazing. This message just made my day :)
Wonderful news! Congratulations. I've only just discovered Nic Costa and am reading the first book. Do you think you will have any say in the matter of casting? I've never had a whole book televised (let alone a series!) but when a short scene from one of my early books was used in a documentary I had no say whatsoever and it kept me awake at night agonizing over their choice of hero. He simply wasn't how I'd created him. A more cynical novelist friend told me to be grateful for the money and let it go!
Benita Brown
Television and cinema are very specific media - I'd rather leave detail such as casting to the experts frankly. It's hard enough getting these things together as it is without some author saying, 'I don't like the look of him.' And as I said elsewhere whoever gets cast people will say, 'That's not the way I saw it.'
Congratulations! Can't wait to see them....I've recommended all the Nic Costa books to loads of people and I always say this would be a fantastic tv series!
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Fantastic news - Congratulations! Nic Costa and Roy Grace... the outlook for TV crime drama is definitely looking good!
That's Amazing news, look forward to watching them!
Thanks - there's a lot of work to be done still though.
I can imagine... Scripts, casting, location! Years of work no doubt!
At last something to look forward to on television.Absolutely love your books David and have every one of the Nic Costa series ,such a joy to lose oneself in the twists and turns of Italian crime.Thank you for all your hard work and look forward to many more great reads.
Thank you!
Nic Costa = James Franco
You're not the first one to make this suggestion.... but honestly casting is a long way off, and given this is meant to be a series I'd suspect very well known actors might not want to make such a commitment. But who knows?
Or...Billy Crudup!
With a dizionario at hand, I read your books in 2 days. Heading back to Rome in a week and going straight to one of the Via Cenci restaurants. I actually love Piperno nearby. Deep fried artichokes I cannot wait! When I am in Venice I see a new layer of life there. Thank you for giving me new insight into my favourite travel destination. I am sure the series will be a great success.Anita.
Thanks - but you'll actually find the restaurants around the corner from Cenci, around the Piazza delle Cinque Scuole and in the Via del Portico d'Ottavia.
Fabulous news...! Congratulations and Best Wishes!
I just bought Fallen Angel yesterday afternoon and couldn't put it down till I finished last night...(was a little tired today) But, it was so worth it. Well done again.
I have read all of David's books and after my 4th visit to Rome am still wandering around in a "Costa" haze hoping to run into Teresa or Peroni, et al, at some ice cream or coffee shop!
I have got the perfect cast in mind. These characters have not altered one iota since I first read "A Season for the Dead".
Looking forward to whatever may eventuate.
Thanks Adrian - you've no idea how nice it is to get kind comments like that from time to time. Writers are such dependent types. I've no idea who will eventually play the crew if this mammoth project comes together. But I'm in Rome on Thursday to discuss everything with the production company and will report back here when there is something concrete to say.
Whoever plays them, though, I will be besieged by people telling me 'they don't look like that' of course.... In books every readers creates his or her version of a character - which is how it should be.
Thanks Cari! You are reading so much more quickly than I can write, you know. Another year till the next one...