Melissa Broder on the Inspiration for New Novel ‘Death Valley’ and Her High Hopes for the Big Screen
In Melissa Broder’s new novel, the protagonist is a novelist dealing with a father in the ICU and a husband with a chronic illness; she escapes to the parched California wilderness in search of figurative (and literal) clarity and discovers a cactus with mythical powers. Death Valley is what the author describes as a “sendup of auto-fiction,” a meditation on both her current ails and the literary form itself. Ahead of the book’s publication, the author joined The Hollywood Reporter over Zoom to discuss the portions of her own life that directly inspired the book — the desert landscape is pulled from her past; the psychedelic plant less so — and offer musings on the painfully slow process of Hollywood adaptations.
Can you talk a little bit about where your inspiration comes from?
For each book it’s a little different, but every idea starts with an image. For The Pisces,...
Can you talk a little bit about where your inspiration comes from?
For each book it’s a little different, but every idea starts with an image. For The Pisces,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Seija Rankin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Softening the blow of the announcement that their forthcoming album Premonition, out Dec. 2, will be their last as a band, White Lung has shared music videos for the project’s two lead singles, “Date Night” and “Tomorrow.” Both records explore themes of tough endings and new beginnings, particularly inspired by frontwoman Mish Barber-Way embarking on a new chapter in life as a mother of two.
“I felt like that part of my life was expiring, so I was projecting those angry and scared feelings out onto the city of L.
“I felt like that part of my life was expiring, so I was projecting those angry and scared feelings out onto the city of L.
- 9/20/2022
- by Larisha Paul
- Rollingstone.com
Click here to read the full article.
Ryan O’Connell is used to mining his personal life for the greater creative good.
His breakout sitcom Special, which ran for two seasons on Netflix and was nominated for four Emmy Awards, was based on his own journey as a gay disabled man coming to terms with his cerebral palsy. He played a version of himself in the starring role. Before O’Connell came to Los Angeles, during the era when blogging could beget minor celebrity status, he wrote a highly popular column for Thought Catalog about his dating life as an early-twenties-something in New York City. Now, he’s releasing his debut novel Just By Looking At Him — a frothy, spicy story about a self-described “gay man in his mid-thirties with an expensive haircut.” Elliot has cerebral palsy, lives in Los Angeles, and is struggling with a longterm relationship slowly curdled into...
Ryan O’Connell is used to mining his personal life for the greater creative good.
His breakout sitcom Special, which ran for two seasons on Netflix and was nominated for four Emmy Awards, was based on his own journey as a gay disabled man coming to terms with his cerebral palsy. He played a version of himself in the starring role. Before O’Connell came to Los Angeles, during the era when blogging could beget minor celebrity status, he wrote a highly popular column for Thought Catalog about his dating life as an early-twenties-something in New York City. Now, he’s releasing his debut novel Just By Looking At Him — a frothy, spicy story about a self-described “gay man in his mid-thirties with an expensive haircut.” Elliot has cerebral palsy, lives in Los Angeles, and is struggling with a longterm relationship slowly curdled into...
- 6/7/2022
- by Seija Rankin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: In what is sure to be one of the hotter packages on the market, Sources tell Deadline that Picturestart has come aboard to produce the psychological thriller Spiral, with Selena Gomez attached to star and Petra Collins directing. Drake is on board to exec produce with Matthew Budman & Sumaiya Kaveh producing through their Forest Hill Entertainment.
Future the Prince aka Adel Nur, who exec produces HBO’s Euphoria with Drake, is also on to exec produce. Endeavor Content is the sales agent and is out to all major streamers with the package.
The story follows a former influencer whose addiction to social media is causing her body to literally fall apart. Phoebe Fisher penned the most recent version with Collins and Melissa Broder penning a previous draft. Given the star power attached, this package should gain a ton of attention as it makes it way around town.
Gomez most...
Future the Prince aka Adel Nur, who exec produces HBO’s Euphoria with Drake, is also on to exec produce. Endeavor Content is the sales agent and is out to all major streamers with the package.
The story follows a former influencer whose addiction to social media is causing her body to literally fall apart. Phoebe Fisher penned the most recent version with Collins and Melissa Broder penning a previous draft. Given the star power attached, this package should gain a ton of attention as it makes it way around town.
Gomez most...
- 4/29/2021
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Claire Foy has signed on to star in the upcoming feature, The Pisces, based on author Melissa Broder’s critically acclaimed novel of the same name. Broder and Gillian Robespierre penned the script that Robespierre will direct. Foy, who is the latest addition to the project, will play a PhD student plagued with writer’s block and romantic obsession.
The Pisces is centered on Lucy’s erotic infatuation with a merman. But as fantastical as that sounds sounds, it is more than just a lady-fishman love story. It’s an exploration of the boundaries between pleasure and possession, fantasy vs. reality and the way women choose the men in their lives.
Archer Gray’s Anne Carey developed the script with Broder and Robespierre. Carey and Amy Nauiokas will produce under their Archer Gray banner.
The novel was published in 2018 by Hogarth Press in the U.S. and Bloomsbury Publishing in the UK.
The Pisces is centered on Lucy’s erotic infatuation with a merman. But as fantastical as that sounds sounds, it is more than just a lady-fishman love story. It’s an exploration of the boundaries between pleasure and possession, fantasy vs. reality and the way women choose the men in their lives.
Archer Gray’s Anne Carey developed the script with Broder and Robespierre. Carey and Amy Nauiokas will produce under their Archer Gray banner.
The novel was published in 2018 by Hogarth Press in the U.S. and Bloomsbury Publishing in the UK.
- 1/26/2021
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Jason Richman has been named Co-Head of UTA’s Media Rights Group, and he will run the division with longtime motion picture lit partner Keya Khayatian, who has helped lead the group since 2017.
The Media Rights department represents a roster of authors, books, articles, podcasts, journalists, estates, life rights and thought leaders, and it has closed over 250 deals in the past 12 months, and nearly 200 since the beginning of the global pandemic, the agency said. That includes a Netflix deal for film adaptations of Tanya Smith’s memoir Ghost In The Machine, with Issa Rae and David Heyman producing, and Jesse Q. Sutanto’s novel Dial A for Aunties; Hulu’s series adaptations of Charles Yu’s National Book Award-winning novel Interior Chinatown and Zakiya Dalila Harris’ upcoming novel The Other Black Girl; Amazon’s series adaptation of National Book Award winner Kacen Callender’s novel Felix Ever After; SunnyMarch’s...
The Media Rights department represents a roster of authors, books, articles, podcasts, journalists, estates, life rights and thought leaders, and it has closed over 250 deals in the past 12 months, and nearly 200 since the beginning of the global pandemic, the agency said. That includes a Netflix deal for film adaptations of Tanya Smith’s memoir Ghost In The Machine, with Issa Rae and David Heyman producing, and Jesse Q. Sutanto’s novel Dial A for Aunties; Hulu’s series adaptations of Charles Yu’s National Book Award-winning novel Interior Chinatown and Zakiya Dalila Harris’ upcoming novel The Other Black Girl; Amazon’s series adaptation of National Book Award winner Kacen Callender’s novel Felix Ever After; SunnyMarch’s...
- 1/12/2021
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: In a competitive situation, Liz Tigelaar’s Best Day Ever production company and ABC Signature Studios, where Tigelaar is under a deal, have landed the television rights to Melissa Broder’s upcoming novel Milk Fed for series development, with Broder set to pen the adaptation.
The anticipated novel, from publisher Scribner, is scheduled for release on February 2, 2021.
Milk Fed is the story of a love affair between an ambivalently Jewish woman with an eating disorder and the zaftig Orthodox woman who works at her local LA frozen yogurt shop.
Tigelaar will serve as showrunner if the project is ordered to pilot and executive produce with Best Day Ever’s Stacey Silverman as well as Broder. ABC Signature is the studio.
Broder also is the author of the novel The Pisces, the essay collection So Sad Today, and four poetry collections, including Last Sext. As a screenwriter, Broder adapted and...
The anticipated novel, from publisher Scribner, is scheduled for release on February 2, 2021.
Milk Fed is the story of a love affair between an ambivalently Jewish woman with an eating disorder and the zaftig Orthodox woman who works at her local LA frozen yogurt shop.
Tigelaar will serve as showrunner if the project is ordered to pilot and executive produce with Best Day Ever’s Stacey Silverman as well as Broder. ABC Signature is the studio.
Broder also is the author of the novel The Pisces, the essay collection So Sad Today, and four poetry collections, including Last Sext. As a screenwriter, Broder adapted and...
- 9/10/2020
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
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