EXCLUSIVE: Laika‘s live-action division has won the bidding war for Emily St. John Mandel‘s upcoming novel Exit Party, we understand, and Emma Stone and Dave McCary’s Fruit Tree also boarded as EP.
We understand that the deal’s sale was in the low seven figures.
The live-action arm of the stop-motion studio has been operating for the past three years, developing feature projects. Exit Party will serve as its first live-action TV project under the division’s president, Matt Levin, who is a Netflix vet.
Deadline told you first that there was an auction for the IP back in October among eight to 10 studios and streamers. Toward the end, it boiled down to five. Mandel, we hear, was drawn to Laika given its drive for the project, the studio speaking to the author and her reps on a frequent basis. I hear that Laika structured a strategic offer that valued Mandel’s creation, voice and future contribution.
The author, whose previous novels include Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility, is still adapting her own novel as previously reported by Deadline. The book hits shelves in September from Penguin Random House, however, WandaVision showrunner Jac Schaeffer is no longer showrunning or directing, due to her commitments to Amazon MGM Studios, where she has an overall deal. Laika is out to showrunner candidates as of this post. Fruit Tree’s attachment came together quite recently.
Fruit Tree’s Head of Television Amy Hodge will shepherd the project on behalf of the Bugonia studio, while Alex Maggioni, Head of Television at Laika Live Action, will oversee for the production studio. Laika’s live-action arm is located in L.A., while the animation HQ is in Portland, OR.
Exit Party is a story of doubles, shadow worlds and fractured timelines as a man disappears from a glittering Los Angeles party, and a woman — a gunrunner, an art collector, an operative of the State — searches for answers.
“Emily is a singular talent whose work aligns deeply with Laika’s creative ethos,” said Laika’s Maggioni. “Partnering with Fruit Tree, with their incredible track record for bold and inventive projects, makes this all the more special, and we’re thrilled to bring this story to the screen together. From our very first read, we were struck by the beauty and depth of Exit Party. It is quintessentially Laika: character-driven, thematically rich, and visually imaginative with ambitious storytelling. Even though it’s set in the near future, it speaks directly to the world we’re living in now with such clarity and insight. At the core, it’s about the forces — both internal and external — that shape who we become, the role institutions play in that journey, and the enduring search for joy and hope in a fragmented world.”
Said Mandel: “There were a lot of suitors for Exit Party, but Laika came in with tremendous passion for this project, and I felt from the first meeting that they were committed to partnering with me to adapt this novel for TV. I started working in television because I love the adaptation process — figuring out how to break apart a novel and put it back together for a new medium is one of my favorite things. With Laika and Fruit Tree, our shared creative vision and ambition are palpable, and I can’t wait to get to work.”
Mandel is represented by Verve, Curate, Curtis Brown and Yorn Levine Barnes. Fruit Tree is repped by WME, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Mosaic. The deal was negotiated by Head of Live Action Business Affairs Zac Locke for Laika.
Since launching its live-action division, Laika has myriad projects in the pipeline. At the top of the list is the feature take on Jenkins Reid’s New York Times bestseller Atmosphere from Captain Marvel filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. There’s also a feature take of Katie Kitamura’s bestselling novel Audition with Lucy Liu and Charles Melton attached to star, which Laika is producing alongside the Obama’s Higher Ground Productions. Other feature projects include an adaptation of the action thriller novel Seventeen by screenwriter John Brownlow; a film version of the original script Crumble, written and directed by Brian Duffield (Spontaneous) with Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Project Hail Mary) producing, and an original project from Oscar-nominated Dune: Part One screenwriter Jon Spaihts.