Bruna Papandrea’s award-winning global film and TV production company Made Up Stories has partnered with producer and agent Lee-Anne Higgins and director, writer and actor Simon Baker (Breath, Boy Swallows Universe) to option bestselling Aotearoa New Zealand author Emily Perkins’ LIONESS.
A recent winner of the prestigious Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, LIONESS is a psychological thriller exploring wealth, class and female reckoning. Praised by the convenor of judges, LIONESS was described as “disturbing, deep, smart, and funny as hell”.
LIONESS will be adapted for television with Baker attached to direct all episodes. Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Katie Amos will produce for Made Up Stories along with Higgins, Baker and Perkins.
In LIONESS, Therese Thorne has married a wealthy older man and built a successful career, but now a fraud investigation threatens her sense of loyalty as well as her reputation. She faces a midlife reckoning about love and complicity, while being drawn to her neighbour, Claire, who offers an enticing, wild, but risky new approach to womanhood.
Made Up Stories and Lee-Anne Higgins said, “It always starts with a unique voice that compels us to want to bring a great story to screen, and when we first read Emily’s book, we knew immediately this was for us. We are excited to collaborate with truly original creatives in Emily and Simon in adapting this intoxicating book for the screen.”
Emily Perkins said, “I’m thrilled that LIONESS has been taken on by such strong creative forces as Bruna Papandrea, Lee-Anne Higgins and Simon Baker – it’s great to know they’ve connected with Therese’s story, and I can’t wait to see how they explore it for the screen.”
Simon Baker says, “A beautiful, witty and searingly honest look at the dichotomy of aspiration and authentic identity in our time. Emily Perkins truly understands the complexity of people and has written characters so rich and engaging that I’m thrilled to be a part of seeing them come to life on the screen.”
The deal was negotiated with The Agency (London). Perkins is represented by Rogers, Coleridge and White.
About Emily Perkins
Emily Perkins is an award-winning writer from Aotearoa New Zealand. As well as LIONESS, her books include the Women’s Prize longlisted THE FORRESTS, Believer Book of the Year and NZ Book of the Year winner NOVEL ABOUT MY WIFE and the short story collection NOT HER REAL NAME.
For the stage, Perkins has adapted Henrik Ibsen’s A DOLL’S HOUSE and written the original play THE MADE, both developed with Auckland Theatre Company.
Her screenwriting credits include co-writing the feature film adaptation THE REHEARSAL with director Alison Maclean and writing on the acclaimed television drama AFTER THE PARTY.
About Made Up Stories
Made Up Stories is a development and production company that amplifies distinctive voices to tell unforgettable stories about the diversity of human experience, driven primarily by multifaceted females on and off-screen. Founded in 2017, and led by Bruna Papandrea, the award-winning producer of the critically acclaimed HBO series BIG LITTLE LIES (eight Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards), Made Up Stories has a global presence with offices in Los Angeles, Sydney and London.
In recent years, Made Up Stories has repeatedly broken records with their film and television series. Netflix’s LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE, based on the novel by Jessica Knoll, starring Mila Kunis, spent back-to-back weeks as the #1 movie on Netflix’s global charts in 2022. Their Prime Video series THE LOST FLOWERS OF ALICE HART instantly became the most successful Australian Amazon Original launch globally, their comedic drama series STRIFE is Binge’s biggest original series launch ever, NINE PERFECT STRANGERS, starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy, immediately became Hulu’s most watched original series upon debut, and THE UNDOING was HBO’s most watched series of 2020.
Upcoming, the highly anticipated season two of NINE PERFECT STRANGERS wrapped filming in June 2024 and Made Up Stories is currently in post-production on Marcelle Lunam’s debut feature film ADDITION and the television series THE LAST ANNIVERSARY based on the best-selling book by Liane Moriarty. The company also is in production on season two of STRIFE.
Additional credits include PIECES OF HER, ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL, ROAR, LONG SLOW EXHALE, WOLF LIKE ME, UNDRESSED, PENGUIN BLOOM, THE DRY, and most recently FORCE OF NATURE: THE DRY 2.
