Asher Keddie and Made Up Stories are joining forces once again, with a television adaptation of Sally Hepworth’s best-selling novel The Soulmate officially in the works.
Announced at the Future Vision summit in Melbourne yesterday, the new project brings together Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories (Strife, Nine Perfect Strangers), Imogen Banks’ Kindling Pictures (Offspring, Fake), and award-winning actor-producer Asher Keddie (Fake, Strife, Offspring) for a psychological thriller rooted in domestic drama and moral ambiguity.
Rounding out the team is screenwriter and showrunner Fiona Seres (Tangle, The Great), with Hepworth herself also on board as executive producer alongside Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Katie Amos for Made Up Stories, Banks for Kindling, Rob Weisbach, and Keddie.
The Soulmate, which was an instant New York Times bestseller and named one of the outlet’s top thrillers of the year, follows Pippa and Gabe – a seemingly perfect couple living in a coastal paradise with their two daughters.
Gabe has gained a quiet notoriety in their cliffside community for preventing suicide attempts – until one day he doesn’t. When Amanda, a woman he fails to save, plummets to her death, a chain reaction of secrets, betrayals and blurred allegiances is set in motion.
The Soulmate: streaming soon
Made Up Stories described the novel’s core mystery as ‘an intoxicating conceit’ brought to life by ‘undeniable characters,’ expressing their excitement to reunite with Hepworth on a second project, following the development of her earlier bestseller Darling Girls.
Hepworth, whose knack for emotionally fraught storytelling has made her a favourite on bookshelves worldwide, praised the collaboration:
‘There’s a kind of magic in finding creative partners who are as passionate about your story as you are. That’s what I’ve found with Bruna, Steve, Katie and the team at Made Up Stories.’
Hepworth is repped by CAA and Rob Weisbach Creative Management.
ScreenHub: Baby Reindeer: Richard Gadd reveals lost episode out there somewhere
Keddie can currently be seen returning to the lead role of ‘Evelyn Jones’ in the Binge series Strife, on which she also serves as an executive producer.
Release details and platform partners for The Soulmate are yet to be announced.
Also on ScreenHub: Baby Reindeer: Richard Gadd reveals lost episode out there somewhere
Some where out there in the Netflix archives there is a lost episode of Baby Reindeer that never went to air.
Speaking at yesterday’s FUTURE VISION conference in Melbourne, the creator and star of the worldwide hit Richard Gadd revealed that he had made, and ultimately cut, an ‘Episode Eight’ of the series.
The episode, according to Gadd, would have seen his character Donny Dunn going back to his native Scotland to visit family.
This break in the narrative was created at the request of executives at Netflix, who thought the series needed a light-hearted moment to give audiences a reprieve from the intense stalker storyline.
For those not in the know, Baby Reindeer follows Donny, a struggling comedian who has a warped relationship with a female stalker that ultimately impacts him to the point of having to face a deep, dark buried trauma.
‘There was the note that kept coming in about the show being too dark,’ Gadd told Australian screenwriter Tony Ayres, who was moderating the Spotlight session in ACMI’s Cinema 1.
He did not reveal much of what happened in the cut episode, beyond his character leaving London to visit relatives in Scotland ‘where stuff kind of happens’. A sports game may have been involved, as he lamented losing scenes at the football with actor Mark Lewis Jones (who played the character of his father, Gerry).
‘He’s astonishing and it’s a shame people will never quite realise how much he gave to that project because of that episode,’ Gadd said.
Read more …
