The Bookseller reports that the 10 yr-old independent TV company Komixx, with headquarters in UK and offices in LA and Perth, has once again seen potential in a Wattpad-grown title:
Komixx has secured worldwide rights to Wattpad “sensation” Ali Novak’s My Life with the Walter Boys.
Novak is described as one of online platform Wattpad’s most successful authors and boasts more than 66 million reads worldwide, according to Komixx. The optioning agreement with Komixx was brokered by Alexander Slater of Trident Media Group.
The news follows a number of Wattpad titles optioned by the independent production company, based in the UK, Los Angeles and Australia, including YA thriller Captured by Kelly Anne Blount, revealed last month, and Beth Reekles’ The Kissing Booth, both commissioned by Netflix. Fellow Wattpad hit Taran Matharu signed a six-figure deal for four books with Hodder in 2016 after initially launching his novel on Wattpad.
Originally posted on social publishing platform Wattpad when Novak was 15, the novel was published in print by Sourcebooks in 2014. The blurb describes “prim, proper and always perfect” Jackie Howard as having her world “turned upside down” by a freak accident, after which she starts a new life on a ranch in Colorado with a family of 11 “handsome boys”. My Life with the Walter Boys is billed as a true coming-of-age story about family, loss, acceptance and young love.
A Komixx spokesperson said the optioning “cements [its] reputation as a leading producer of exciting YA TV and film adaptations…as the company adds to its growing portfolio of content optioned from Wattpad”.
Andrew Cole-Bulgin, group chief creative officer and head of film and TV at Komix, told The Bookseller that sourcing titles from Wattpad is a “very attractive element” for the company.
via https://www.thebookseller.com/news/komixx-scoops-novaks-wattpad-novel-678901