Emily Henry’s newest bestseller Funny Story will be developed into a feature film, with the author herself writing the screenplay, Variety reported.
The novel was released April 23 by Penguin Random House. The movie adaptation will be produced by Lyrical Media and Ryder Picture Company.
Have I got a ‘Funny Story’ for you
The story, described as “a shimmering, joyful tale about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common,” follows children’s librarian Daphne. She’s nursing a broken heart after breaking her engagement to Peter, who has a late realization of being in love with his childhood best friend Petra.
Daphne gets stranded in Peter’s lakeside hometown and ends up becoming roommates with Petra’s ex Miles. While the two may be almost complete opposites, they become friends who decide to get revenge on or together with their exes — whichever plan works out in the end.
This marks the first time that Henry will be adapting her own book for a feature film. Lyrical Media’s Alexander Black and Natalie Sellers will serve as producers, along with Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett of RPC. Henry will also serve as executive producer with Lyrical’s Jon Rosenberg. Emma Rappol of RPC will co-produce. No director has been named yet.
Funny Story debuted at the top of the New York Times’ and USA Today Bestsellers lists. It has sold more than 800,000 in North America alone since it was released. Henry’s sales of all her books have totaled over 7.5 million in North America.
Five in a row
Her previous bestselling romance novels Beach Read (2020), People We Meet on Vacation (2021) and Book Lovers (2022) are currently being developed into feature films. Her book Happy Place, released last year, is being adapted into a Netflix TV series. Jennifer Lopez will produce through her Nuyorican Productions banner while Henry is set to co-write the pilot episode.
Yulin Kuang will write and direct Beach Read for 20th Century Studios, with Original Film producing. Kuang will also adapt the screenplay for People We Meet on Vacation, with Brett Haley attached to direct for 3000 Pictures. Book Lovers’ screenplay will be adapted by Sarah Heyward, who wrote and produced the Emmy Award-winning HBO series Girls. This means all of Henry’s adult fiction books are being turned into feature films and a TV series.
The author has released five number one bestselling books in just five years. All this without going on a book tour or even the now seemingly necessary for authors: a large social media following. Henry isn’t on TikTok, but her books certainly are.
Emily Henry and writing bestsellers right at the comfort of her own home
She first gained attention from readers with Beach Read, which was released in May 2020, barely two months after lockdowns were being implemented all over the world. Henry’s editor for the book, Berkley’s Amanda Bergeron told The New York Times, “A lot of people were looking for something that was going to bring brightness, comfort and warmth and also not shy away from grief. Beach Read was doing all those things.”
Henry’s sales numbers were unprecedented in the publishing space. Especially since she had written four books before Beach Read, all geared towards young adults. The 2020 novel was her first foray into writing adult fiction.
Conventional wisdom would say that this was a harder road than usual for the author. She already had a following in the YA space; adult fiction was uncharted territory for her. However, sales numbers grew with every book release. All that without touring or a social media presence, namely TikTok. Henry is on Instagram, though.
The film adaptation of People We Meet on Vacation was announced in late 2022, Book Lovers and Beach Read, were announced within a month of each other last year. This year, Happy Place was announced for a series adaptation just last month and then swiftly followed by Funny Story.
With all of these developments, Henry may have to leave the comfort of her own home to start touring in order to support her many upcoming projects. She still has time to get used to the idea, though. As of now, the projects are still in development and don’t have release dates yet.
Hollywood is riding the BookTok wave and there seems to be no end in sight. Several current streaming hit series and films are book adaptations, namely FX’s critically acclaimed Shōgun, the Dune movies, Netflix’s 3 Body Problem and the massively successful regency romance Bridgerton.
Not that I’m complaining. In fact, it’s been a long time coming.
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