Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories & Fifth Season Acquire Hayley Krischer’s YA Thriller ‘The Falling Girls’ For TV Series
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EXCLUSIVE: Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories and Fifth Season have optioned the rights to Hayley Krischer’s young adult novel The Falling Girls for television. Chloe Stearns and John Wynn are set to write the series.
Set against the backdrop of a high school cheerleading squad, The Falling Girls is a thriller about the dark, intense and all-consuming paths female friendships can take.
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Made Up Stories’ Jodi Matterson, Steve Hutensky and Papandrea will exec produce in partnership with Fifth Season.
“We got so excited at the prospect of delving into this world of teenage girl conflict because Hayley has created a mystery at the center of this story that makes it irresistible,” said Made Up Stories execs. “With Chloe and John at the helm, this show is going to take the drama – that we all remember so well from high school and which so often felt like a life or death situation – to a whole new level.”
Krischer said: “When I was writing The Falling Girls I wanted to explore the explosive, vulnerable and complicated dynamics between teenage girls and their best friends. Friendship problems don’t stop once you become an adult, but in high school, breaking up with a friend can seem like the end of the world. Not only were Chloe and John crystal clear about their vision for my story, but they genuinely cared about my characters. Bruna Papandrea has dedicated her career to telling women’s stories – she’s basically a writer’s dream come true. I can’t wait to see The Falling Girls come to life on the screen with such intelligent and creative people behind it.”
“We knew The Falling Girls was special from the very first page,” Stearns and Wynn added. “Hayley captures the nuances of teenage female friendship with a level of authenticity we have yet to see and we’re thrilled to be on this journey with her. We look forward to working with the incredible creative team at Made Up Stories and our partners at Fifth Season as we take this story from book to screen.”
In addition to The Falling Girls, Krischer is the author of Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf, a 2021 Rise Feminist Book Project List Selection. She is also an award-winning journalist who has written for the New York Times, The Atlantic, Elle and more. Her adult debut, Where Are You, Echo Blue? is set to be released in 2024.
Stearns recently worked on Season 2 of Wolf Like Me, starring Josh Gad and Isla Fisher while Wynn recently directed QCode’s narrative podcast Last Known Position, which sold to Amazon as a series starring Gina Rodriguez.
Made Up Stories most recently produced the film adapation of Netflix’s Luckiest Girl Alive, based on the novel by Jessica Knoll. That film, starring Mila Kunis and directed by Mike Barker, premiered on October 7 and was the #1 movie globally on Netflix. The company is currently in production on a film adaptation of Jane Harpers Force of Nature, a follow-up to the The Dry, which will see Eric Bana reprise his role and Robert Connolly directing.
Krischer is repped by Prospect Agency and Grandview. Stearns and Wynn are repped by Gersh and Grandview.
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