Warner Bros. Television has optioned Coco Mellors’ debut novel “Cleopatra and Frankenstein” to develop as a series, Variety has learned exclusively from sources.
Mellors is onboard to adapt her book for the screen with Maggie Kiley attached to direct and executive produce via her overall deal with WBTV.
WBTV declined to comment.
In the book, twenty-four-year-old British painter Cleo has escaped from England to New York and is still finding her place in the sleepless city when, a few months before her student visa ends, she meets Frank. Twenty years older and a self-made success, Frank’s life is full of all the excesses Cleo’s lacks. He offers her the chance to be happy, the freedom to paint, and the opportunity to apply for a green card. But their impulsive marriage irreversibly changes both their lives, and the lives of those close to them, in ways they never could’ve predicted.
“Cleopatra and Frankenstein” was published in February 2022 by Bloomsbury. It is forthcoming in 10 additional languages.
Mellors grew up in London and New York, where she received her MFA in Fiction from New York University. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times’ Modern Love column, NY Mag’s The Cut, and The Stack, among others. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she is finishing her second novel.
Mellors is repped by CAA and United Agents.
Kiley is an in-demand TV director who most recently directed and executive produced the Netflix survival drama “Keep Breathing” starring Melissa Barrera, with that show also produced by WBTV. She directed three of the show’s six episodes. Her other recent directing credits include “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” on HBO Max, “Dr. Death” on Peacock, and “Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story” for USA Network.
Kiley is repped by CAA and Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer.
