It’s happening. Remain calm, people. This is not a drill. It’s finally bloody happening.
‘Sweet Valley High‘ looks set to be coming to the big screen, after all these years.
The hugely dramatic and prolific YA book series has found itself a brand new pair of writers to pen a script for a long-awaited film adaptation of the trials and tribulations of the Wakefield twins.
Jessica and Elizabeth‘s on-going rivalry in the fictional Californian town of Sweet Valley is reportedly set to be brought to life by the writing pair of Kiwi Smith and Harper Dill, according to Deadline.
Paramount Pictures has hired the pair to collaborate on a script for a film adaptation of the book series, which produced some 603 novels from various ghostwriters during the series’ run between 1983 and 2003. The literary series also produced a number of spinoffs, and one TV series – ‘Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High‘ – which ran for 4 seasons and 88 episodes between 1994 and 1997.
The books series has long been earmarked for a film adaptation, with ‘Juno‘ writer Diablo Cody at one point attached to the project. But this latest hire of Smith and Dill is the strongest indication yet that Paramount intends to have it come to full fruition.
Though this represents the first collaboration between the two writers, neither are without experience. Smith, in particular, has a long list of successful writing credits, having penned films like ‘10 Things I Hate About You,’ ‘She’s The Man,’ ‘Ella Enchanted,’ and ‘Legally Blonde.’ Meanwhile, Dill has served as a writer on recent TV shows like ‘The Mick,’ and ‘The Mindy Project.’
Obviously at this stage things like casting, director, plot, etc all remain well and truly up in the air.
But the sooner we can cop a squizz at the Wakefield twins bickering over the roguish knave Todd Wilkins on a giant cinema screen, the better off the entire world will be TBH.
Now if we can also get cracking on an updated version of ‘The Babysitter’s Club,’ we’ll *really* be cookin’ with gas.
