The Who Was? Show, Inspired by Penguin Workshop’s New York Times Bestselling Who Was? Series, Debuts on Netflix Today
May 11, 2018
Every 11 seconds, a Who HQ book is sold somewhere in the world. Now Penguin Workshop’s wildly popular children’s biography series is coming to Netflix Kids & Family in The Who Was? Show, a laugh-out-loud original series that tells the stories of famous historical figures from across the globe through improv, sketches, impersonations, music videos and animated shorts in a show-within-a-show format that is as entertaining as it is educational.
Francesco Sedita[/caption]
Francesco Sedita, president and publisher of Penguin Workshop and an executive producer of the show, describes it as “The Muppets meets SNL meets You Can’t Do That on Television.” Sedita came up with the idea of creating a TV series based on the books, and even created a pilot episode. A few years ago, the Penguin Workshop team pitched it to potential partners at the Kidscreen conference, where it was picked up by Netflix.
The Who Was? Show pairs two unlike historical figures in each episode and imagines what might happen if someone like Marie Antoinette were to meet Louis Armstrong, or if Bruce Lee met Julius Caesar. The 13-episode series, premiering on Netflix today, May 11, features a diverse teenage cast and appearances by special guest stars including Ellie Kemper, H. Jon Benjamin, Jane Krakowski, John Oliver and Andy Daly, among others. The show is helmed and written by a comedy dream team whose credits include The Daily Show, Conan O’Brien, Great Minds with Dan Harmon, and Roseanne.
The Who Was? book series, the brainchild of VP and Editor-at-Large Jane O’Connor, launched in 2002 with 4 titles. Since then, it has become one of the most popular series in children’s books, known for its instantly recognizable cover art, which features historical figures illustrated as bobbleheads. In recent years, Penguin Workshop has introduced two spinoff series, Where Is? and What Was?, and collectively, the three series are known as Who HQ. By the end of 2018, the series that began with just 4 books will have become a brand encompassing some 231 titles, with more than 35 million copies in print worldwide.
For an inside look at how Who Was? went from page to screen, check out Publishers Weekly’s interview with Penguin Workshop’s Francesco Sedita and Jane O’Connor. Riverhead’s DRAMA HIGH is the Book Behind NBC-TV’s “Rise” Series
March 19, 2018
Hailed as “this season’s hottest new TV show” is NBC’s Rise, based on Riverhead’s beloved book, DRAMA HIGH: The Incredible True Story of a Brilliant Teacher, a Struggling Town, and the Magic of Theater by Michael Sokolove. Critics and fans alike are raving over the silver screen adaptation of this true story of “a brilliant, demanding and subversive teacher who practices the best kind of magic – the kind that’s real and that changes lives” (USA Today).
Michael Sokolove © Michael Williamson[/caption]
Created by Jason Katims (the man behind the TV series Friday Night Lights and Parenthood) and Jeffrey Seller (a producer of a little Broadway show called Hamilton), Sokolove’s incredible true story is imbedded in the heart of the show. The story behind Rise began when Seller, making his first foray into series TV, read an excerpt from “DRAMA HIGH” in The New York Times Magazine in 2013. He bought the book. It made him cry. But the broadcast rights to the book had already been sold. A few years later, when Seller joined up with the veteran producer Flody Suarez (8 Simple Rules, The Tick), he learned that those rights were once again available. “I handed Flody the book and I said, ‘This is what I want to make into a TV show,’ Seller recalled.” (New York Times).
Sokolove spoke to Entertainment Weekly about seeing his life adapted for television and why his story feels relevant: “[Nobody] who went to school was inspired by trying to get a standardized test score ... What [this story] shows so clearly is that education is still about passion and inspiration.”
Rise airs Tuesday nights on NBC at 10:00 p.m. and is available on Hulu if you missed the March 13 premiere.
Watch New Trailer for READY PLAYER ONE Movie
March 16, 2018
The countdown continues to March 29, when the Steven Spielberg-directed film adaptation of Ernest Cline’s #1 bestselling book READY PLAYER ONE (Broadway) will open in theaters nationwide. The world premiere was at this week’s South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, where Mr. Cline was a featured speaker. Janet Pierson, director of film at SXSW, commented, “The film brings to the screen a story that has captivated millions of readers around the globe, written by Austin’s very own Ernest Cline.” To help further ratchet up fan enthusiasm, Warner Bros. Pictures has debuted a new READY PLAYER ONE “Dreamer” trailer: “Save the Oasis. Save the world.”
Netflix Acquires Adaptation of THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY
March 15, 2018
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows’ New York Times bestseller THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, a book club favorite since it was first published by The Dial Press in 2008, has now been adapted for the screen by the production company Blue Print (producers of the Oscar and Golden Globe award-winning film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) in partnership with Studiocanal and The Mazur Kaplan Company. Netflix acquired the rights to air the film in North America, Latin America, Italy, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. Studiocanal will release it theatrically in Australia, France, and Germany.
Watch the Trailer for TV Adaptation of THE LOOMING TOWER, Hulu Original Series Debuts Tonight
February 28, 2018
Lawrence Wright’s THE LOOMING TOWER: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Knopf/Vintage), which won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, has been adapted into a 10-episode Hulu original series and debuts tonight. Starring Jeff Daniels, Peter Sarsgaard, Alec Baldwin and Tahar Rahim, the gripping narrative spans five decades, powerfully illuminating the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence failures that culminated in the 9/11 attacks.
Watch the New Netflix Adaptation of Richard K. Morgan’s ALTERED CARBON
February 26, 2018
The cinematic scope of Richard K. Morgan’s genre-bending science fiction book, ALTERED CARBON (Del Rey), made it a natural for screen adaptation. Now streaming exclusively on Netflix, this ten-episode series takes place more than 350 years into the future, when humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person’s consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or “sleeve”) making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.
Watch New READY PLAYER ONE Featurette and Trailer
January 25, 2018
A new featurette and trailer for the Steven Spielberg-directed film adaptation of Ernest Cline’s bestselling book READY PLAYER ONE (Broadway) are now out in the world. The very cool featurette is narrated by Spielberg and Cline.
Watch the READY PLAYER ONE featurette and trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC0IbwplrGs Watch Trailer for THE ALIENIST TV Adaptation, Premiering Tonight on TNT
January 22, 2018
The wait is over at last for a filmed adaptation of the classic historical thriller, THE ALIENIST by Caleb Carr. Tonight, at 9:00 pm (ET/PT), TNT Network premieres the first episode of the much-anticipated mini-series based on the multi-million-copy selling novel.
Showtime Picks Up TV Series Based on World of Patrick Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller Chronicle
November 1, 2017
From page to screen: Showtime is developing a television series based on #1 New York Times-bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss’ epic fantasy series The Kingkiller Chronicle, published by DAW. Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Hamilton (based on Ron Chernow’s book, ALEXANDER HAMILTON) will executive produce and also compose music for the series, which is being produced by Lionsgate.
Lin-Manuel MirandaCREDIT: REX/Shutterstock[/caption] Miranda told Deadline: “Showtime has always championed bold storytelling. Pat Rothfuss’ ‘Kingkiller’ series is some of the most exciting storytelling I have ever read. I could not be more thrilled to help bring the sights and sounds of his wondrous world of Temerant to the screen.” The Kingkiller Chronicle series of books and novellas incudes THE NAME OF THE WIND, THE WISE MAN’S FEAR and THE SLOW REGARD OF SILENT THINGS — and have sold [caption id="attachment_8518" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Patrick Rothfuss[/caption]
10 million copies. The Showtime series will be set a generation before the events of THE NAME OF THE WIND, the first novel in The Kingkiller Chronicle. The series showrunner and executive producer John Rogers previously created and executive produced such TV series as Leverage, The Librarians, and The Player. His feature film credits include Transformers, The Core and American Outlaws.
An in-depth profile of Rothfuss was recently featured in New York magazine and on Vulture.com. Read it here.
Read Our Books Starring in New Fall TV, Streaming Series and Films
September 28, 2017
This year’s fall television and streaming season is upon us, with a number of new shows, series and films based on books published by Penguin Random House imprints, as well as two new books of ours based on the programming itself. The following viewers and readers guide shines the spotlight on this diverse selection:
Across more than fifty years of essays, novels, and criticism, Joan Didion has chronicled the changing tides of American culture and politics – often in deeply personal ways. This upcoming documentary, JOAN DIDION: The Center Will Not Hold, directed by Didion’s nephew Griffin Dunne, is primarily based on SOUTH AND WEST: From a Notebook (Knopf), in which Didion presents excerpts from two notebooks. In one, she traces a road trip she took with her late husband, John Gregory Dunne, in June 1970, through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. She interviews prominent local figures, describes motels, diners, a deserted reptile farm, a visit with Walker Percy, a ladies' brunch at the Mississippi Broadcasters' Convention. A different notebook, the "California Notes," began as an assignment from Rolling Stone on the Patty Hearst trial of 1976. Though Didion never wrote the piece, watching the trial and being in San Francisco triggered thoughts about the city, its social hierarchy, the Hearsts, and her own upbringing in Sacramento. Dunne’s documentary, which debuts next month as part of the New York Film Festival, intersperses archival footage alongside his interviews with his Aunt Joan, delving into her extraordinary body of work and its impact on our cultural landscape. Of note: footage of Didion partying with Janis Joplin in a house full of L.A. rockers in the ‘60s; hanging out in a recording studio with Jim Morrison of The Doors; and cooking dinner for one of Charles Manson’s followers for a magazine story.
Debuts at The New York Film Festival, with screenings on October 11, 12 and 14; and then premieres on Netflix, October 27
“ALIAS GRACE”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-fofQ9VpPQ&feature=youtu.be
On the heels of the success of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name and winner of six Emmy Awards, our author’s work is a hot property in Hollywood. Expectations are high for Alias Grace, an adaptation Atwood’s ALIAS GRACE: A Novel (Anchor). In the book, it is 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders. An up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories? Produced by Netflix and Canada’s CBC, the six-part series will tell the story of Marks and delves deeply into this twisty tale.
Premieres on Netflix, November 3
“THE LONG ROAD HOME”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNP5PaKXlN8&feature=youtu.be
Based on ABC News reporter and author Martha Raddatz’s searing nonfiction book, THE LONG ROAD HOME: A Story of War and Family (Berkley), this National Geographic series recounts, across eight episodes, the harrowing story of The First Cavalry Division, which suffered a surprise attack on the streets of Sadr City, a district of Baghdad, on April 4, 2004. The series, like the book, will chronicle the events of the attack through the eyes of the soldiers who lived it.
Premieres on the National Geographic Channel, November 7
“THE CROWN”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k15O_eBfUuk&feature=youtu.be
Season two of Netflix’s critically acclaimed and Emmy Award-winning series, The Crown, is expected to wade into darker territory. There will be more emphasis on the complexities of Elizabeth’s (Claire Foy) marriage to Prince Philip (Matt Smith) while also delving into Philip’s backstory – one that is both extraordinary and tragic. THE CROWN: The Official Companion, Volume 1: Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill, and the Making of a Young Queen (1947-1955) (Crown Archetype) was written by the show’s historical consultant and royal biographer, Robert Lacey. The book is filled with beautifully reproduced archival photos and show stills, adding expert and in-depth detail to the events of the series, painting an intimate portrait of life inside Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street. A wonderful holiday gift for THE CROWN fan in your life.
Premieres on Netflix, December 8