EXCLUSIVE: Toronto and LA-based production shingle Shaftesbury Films has secured TV rights to author Lesley Livingston’s Wondrous Strange YA novel trilogy, about a teenage actress in NYC who discovers she’s a Faerie princess from another realm who must embrace her heritage in time to save Earth. Wondrous Strange, published in 2009 by HarperCollins Canada and HarperCollins U.S., was followed by novel sequels Darklight (2010) and Tempestuous (2011). Wondrous Strange won 2010’s Young Adult Book Of The Year award from the Canadian Literary Association and the 2010 White Pine Honor Book, and was shortlisted for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Speculative Fiction. Toronto-based Livingston has already written a spin-off to the Wondrous Strange series called Starling, which HarperTeen published in 2012.
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Bitten and Orphan Black have shown us that television audiences are hungry for genre series featuring strong female protagonists who are dealing with extraordinary circumstances in the real world,” said Shaftesbury U.S. head Maggie Murphy. “By putting a refreshingly darker spin on classic fairy lore, Wondrous Strange offers an entirely new fantasy world that has never been seen before, with empowering, believable characters who speak directly to the young female demographic.” Last year Shaftesbury inked a first-look deal with ABC after opening a US division in 2011. Livingston, who’s also a host of nationally-broadcast Canadian show Spacebar, is repped by the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc.
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