Elizabeth Cantillon & Brillstein Developing ‘I Was Told To Come Alone’ TV Drama Based On Souad Mekhennet Book
Elizabeth Cantillon’s The Cantillon Company has teamed with Brillstein Entertainment Partners to develop a drama series adaptation of the book I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad, by Washington Post correspondent Souad Mekhennet, based on her life and career as a German-born Muslim journalist.
I Was Told To Come Alone will be a contemporary hourlong drama series, which follows Mekhennet as she pursues Jihadi leaders around the globe, putting her own life on the line to expose the complicated truths behind the War on Terror. While she explores the devastating effects of terrorism, she also finds humor and levity in the most harrowing of moments. From fending off marriage proposals from militant jihadists to worrying about the kinds of books her kidnappers might find on her Kindle, Mekhennet offers a new perspective that is distinctly feminine and profoundly human.
Cantillon will produce with Brillstein’s Jon Liebman and Missy Malkin. Laura Quicksilver will oversee for The Cantillon Company
Mekhennet was recently named the 2017 recipient of the Chicago Journalists Association Daniel Pearl Award in recognition for her courageous reporting. Since its June release, I Was Told to Come Alone has become an international bestseller, and most recently landed on Publishers Weekly’s list of Best Nonfiction Books of 2017.
Cantillon was a longtime production exec with Sony Pictures before transition to producing full-time. In 2015, she produced Concussion, starring Will Smith, and is attached to produce astronaut Scott Kelly’s new memoir Endurance. On the television side, Cantillon has set up LA Woman at Hulu with Liz Tigelaar, Lynn Shelton and Amy Pascal, based on the life and novels of Los Angeles It-Girl Eve Babitz, as well as Rage for Fame at Amazon, following the life of 20th century female powerhouse, Clare Boothe Luce.
Mekhennet is repped by Brillstein, CAA, and Ross Yoon Agency.
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