Sophie Cookson & Lucien Laviscount Underway On Rom-Com ‘This Time Next Year’; Protagonist Launching For Cannes Market

EXCLUSIVE: Sophie Cookson (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) and Lucien Laviscount (Emily In Paris) are underway on feature rom-com This Time Next Year, which heralds from producers Night Train Media and BlackBox Multimedia.

The film is adapted by Sophie Cousens’ from her novel of the same name and is being directed by Nick Moore, editor of hit comedies including Love Actually, Notting Hill and The Full Monty.

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Protagonist Pictures is handling worldwide sales and will introduce the project to buyers at the upcoming Cannes market.

The film will chart the story of Minnie (Cookson) and Quinn (Laviscount) who are born in London on New Year’s Day, in the same hospital, one minute apart. Thirty years later — and very different people — they find themselves thrown together again in the same city on New Year’s Eve.

Producers are Giuliano Papadia for BlackBox Multimedia and Herbert L. Kloiber for Night Train Media, with Erika Hossington also attached as producer on the film. Chiara Cardoso for BlackBox Multimedia and James Copp for Night Train Media serve as executive producers.

BlackBox was founded by industry veteran Guy Avshalom (Lionsgate UK) and is led by former Fox executive Giuliano Papadia. Last year, the company’s first TV series The Ex-Wife was Paramount+’s first original in the UK. Night Train Media, backed by investor Serafin Group, was founded in 2020 by Herbert Kloiber, former managing director of Tele München Group.

Lina Marrone, Acting Head of Sales at Protagonist Pictures, said: “The super talented Sophie and Lucien are the perfect pair to bring Sophie’s uplifting, heartwarming tale to life. With endless charm, biting humor and true kismet, This Time Next Year has all the makings of the next great Brit rom-com with strong global appeal.”

Sophie Cousens, screenwriter and author of This Time Next Year, commented: “Writing this book in the evenings after work, I couldn’t have imagined the journey I would go on with these characters. It’s been incredible to see This Time Next Year translated into eighteen languages, become a New York Times bestseller and now, turned into a film. I grew up on the classic romantic comedies of the ’90s and early 2000s – these films are the reason I started writing rom coms, and as such, I always pictured Minnie and Quinn’s story as a film. To witness it come to life with such a talented cast and crew, is an absolute dream come true.”

Cousens is represented by Sheila David at Catapult Rights, acting in conjunction with the Darley Anderson Literary Agency.

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