Netflix is moving forward with a film adaptation of Better Than the Movies, the hugely popular YA rom-com novel by Lynn Painter. Julia Hart, best known for directing I’m Your Woman on Prime Video, is set to direct and co-write the project.
What Is Better Than the Movies About
The novel follows Liz Buxbaum, a high school senior whose entire view of love is shaped by her obsession with romantic comedies. When she tries to get the attention of her dream crush, she ends up getting unexpected help from the boy next door, who is equal parts annoying and hard to ignore. The story plays with all the classic rom-com tropes including fake relationships, enemies to lovers, and the boy next door, but flips them into something fresher.
Published by Simon & Schuster, the book hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list and has appeared on the monthly YA paperback list for 41 consecutive months. It is also celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, which makes the timing of the adaptation feel well planned.
Who Is Making the Film
Hart has already completed one draft of the screenplay with her husband and longtime creative partner Jordan Horowitz. A second draft was also completed by writer Heather Flanders. Horowitz will produce the film under their Original Headquarters banner, alongside Shauna Phelan.
This is the second Netflix project from Original Headquarters. The first is Don’t Say Good Luck, a teen drama starring Sunny Sandler that Hart also directed and co-wrote. That film releases on August 14.
Julia Hart’s Track Record With Young Adult Stories
Hart has a clear feel for stories aimed at younger audiences. Her directorial debut Miss Stevens, a road-trip dramedy starring Lily Rabe, Timothée Chalamet, and Lili Reinhart, premiered at SXSW in 2016 and announced her as a filmmaker worth watching. She followed that with Fast Color, a genre film starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, also a SXSW premiere. More recently, she directed both Stargirl and Hollywood Stargirl for Disney+, which puts her firmly in the YA space before Better Than the Movies.
Lynn Painter Is Having a Big Moment
Better Than the Movies is not the only Painter novel heading to the screen. Sony recently set up an adaptation of her bestselling novel Fake Skating, with Will Gluck’s Olive Bridge banner attached to produce. Painter, who is from Illinois, is quickly becoming one of the more in-demand YA authors in Hollywood right now.
No casting has been announced yet for Better Than the Movies.
Courtesy: Deadline
