Bruna Papandrea has scored the rights to another buzzy novel with plans to bring it to the small screen. The “Big Little Lies” executive producer’s Made Up Stories optioned the rights to Allison Pearson’s “How Hard Can It Be?” a press release announced.
Set to be published June 5, the novel is a sequel to Pearson’s 2002 massive hit “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” the source material for the 2011 Sarah Jessica Parker film of the same name.
“How Hard Can It Be?” reunites readers with Kate Reddy, who is now nearing her 50th birthday. Described as a “brilliant and incredibly timely portrait of a heroine fighting to remain strong and relevant in an ageist world,” the story sees the Kate “dealing with all the challenges of midlife: teenagers sharing pictures of their intimate parts on social media, ageing parents taking a second pass at childhood, a marriage gone flat, not to mention menopause and memory loss,” its synopsis details.
No word on who will write, direct, or star in the series. Papandrea is among the project’s executive producers.
“I am delighted that Bruna and her amazing team at Made Up Stories are transforming ‘How Hard Can It Be?’ into a compelling TV drama,” said Pearson. “Committed to telling important tales about women’s lives at this great turning point in our history, Made Up Stories is the perfect producer for my novel. We have such a wealth of great actresses in their prime right now; I can’t wait to see them bring my heroine and her friends to life.”
Papandrea added, “I knew Allison’s brilliant novel was exactly what I had been looking for the moment I started reading it. She captures the struggles and joys of balancing it all with such hilarity and emotional honesty, in a way that will be relatable to so many people.”
Pearson is an award-winning journalist who currently serves as a columnist for The Daily Telegraph. “I Don’t Know How She Does It” sold 4 million copies worldwide. She followed up her debut novel with 2010’s “I Think I Love You.”
Currently in production on Season 2 of HBO Emmy winner “Big Little Lies,” Papandrea’s other credits include adaptations of best-sellers “Gone Girl” and “Wild.” She’s exec producing TNT’s “Deadlier Than the Male,” an upcoming series about a trio of characters with mysterious pasts, and producing “The Nightingale,” Jennifer Kent’s follow-up to “The Babadook.” The 1820s-set pic follows a young Irish convict seeking revenge for her family’s murder.
