Prominent film financiers, Media Rights Capital, just announced that work has begun on the screenplay adaptations of the Tyrell trilogy, a young adult, urban fantasy by Amanda Hocking. Could this be part of a greater trend toward more main-stream centered fantasy from Hollywood?
The Trylle trilogy, “Switched,” “Torn” and “Ascend,” is the story of a young girl, and her struggles with everyday teenage life alongside her discovery that she might not be as human as she believed.
She must deal with parents, classmates, and a new love interest all while discovering the mystery which lay within her.
The series of young adult novels is seemingly influenced by the success of Twilight, which, for better or worse, has brought the urban fantasy sub-genre to the mainstream – though some refer to Twilight as Christian suburban fantasy, that’s bordering on genre-creep.
What’s actually most amazing about these books is that they are not a commercially published line. Hocking is self-published, one of the first and few real self-publishing success stories.
Genre aside, that pretty amazing, and to now have a movie deal in the works is big news, and grand encouragement for other amateur fantasy authors. Self-publishing is not viable as a regular publishing method yet, but it’s on the road.
As for the deal: the short trilogy is being turned into two movies, which are currently being penned by Terri Tatchell, a co-writer of the niche hit District 9, who also has a personal relationship with Hatcher, so it might not be terrible. In an interview with The New York Times, Tatchell said that “Amanda has created such a fresh, unique, fabulous world, and I am absolutely dead set on bringing it to the screen without compromising any of that.”
Of course, when the time comes, if they end up casting Robert Pattinson and/or Kristen Stewart, no one will be able to go see it.
This is all part of a larger trend, of course to get more young-adult fantasy into Hollywood, with the major financiers and production houses buying up properties left and right, after the wild commercial success of Twilight. How many will actually reach production stages, however, is yet to be seen.
