Apple Studios Lands Cesca Major Novel ‘Maybe Next Time’; Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine Producing

Mike Fleming Jr
·2 min read

EXCLUSIVE: In competition, Apple Studios is acquiring rights to Cesca Major’s latest novel Maybe Next Time. It will be developed as an Apple Original Film from Apple Studios, with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine set to be producer. The author will be executive producer.

There is a Groundhog Day element to this one, as a woman relives the same day over, trying to keep her family and career from imploding as she attempts to save her husband’s life. Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter will produce for Hello Sunshine, and Ashley Strumwasser will be executive producer alongside Major.

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William Morrow published Maybe Next Time in the U.S. on March 7, and the novel will be published in the UK by HarperCollins on March 30. Major is a novelist and screenwriter who has written several psychological thrillers under the name C.D. Major. Cesca’s titles include A Thin Place and Amazon hit The Other Girl, which was longlisted for a CWA Gold Dagger Award. Cesca has worked in television as a presenter and she teaches creative writing at the Henley School of Art. She lives in Berkshire with her husband and three young children.

Maybe Next Time marks the latest high-profile collaboration for Apple TV+ and Hello Sunshine, which have the upcoming limited series The Last Thing He Told Me. Jennifer Garner is star and EP in a drama based on the bestselling novel. Also upcoming for Apple TV+ and Hello Sunshine is My Kind of Country, a global search for unconventional and extraordinary country music talent. It’s the first competition series for the streaming platform. Apple TV+ renewed the Gugu Mbatha-Raw-starrer Surface, and the companies also collaborate on the signature series The Morning Show and the Octavia Spencer-starrer Truth Be Told.

CAA brokered the Maybe Next Time screen rights deal. Cesca is repped by Curtis Brown in the UK and CAA in the U.S.; Witherspoon is with CAA and attorney Gretchen Rush of Hansen, Jacobson.

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