This England EP Richard Brown’s Passenger and Chernobyl director Johan Rencks/Spaceman producer Michael Parets’ new shingle Sinestra have optioned Nathan Newman’s How to Leave the House.
The pair have acquired TV rights following competitive auction to the novel due out in Spring 2024. It marks the first major revealed project for Passenger since being acquired by Fremantle and one of Sinestra’s first projects since launching several weeks ago with a first-look Fremantle deal.
Taking place over 24 hours, Newman’s book follows Natwest, a precociously intelligent but anxious 23 year old who orders an embarrassing package to his house on the eve of his departure for university. When it doesn’t arrive, he is forced on an odyssey around his small town to retrieve it.
Brown, Renck and Parets said the book could be an “instant classic.”
“Bracingly original, profoundly insightful and extremely funny to boot, we feel tremendously fortunate to work alongside Nathan as they shepherd How To Leave the House into its next life as a television series,” added the trio.
Deadline revealed Fremantle had acquired Passenger earlier this month and Brown’s shingle is also working on an adaptation of Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch. Sinestra, meanwhile, was launched in September and is adapting Antoine Wilson’s Mouth to Mouth.
The How to Leave the House deal was brokered by Sheila David at Catapult Rights, acting in conjunction with Brotherstone Creative Management.