Press Release: Deals Done
Random House Children's Screen Entertainment Signs First Option
Posted at 8:52PM Monday 08 Feb 2010
Random House Children's Screen Entertainment ('RHCSE') is delighted to announce that it has secured the worldwide film rights to the Monster Republic series. The deal was made in a pre-emptive, andpre-publication, move with debut author Ben Horton, and agented by Hothouse. It is anticipated that the fast-paced sci-fi novel, Monster Republic: The Divinity Project, will be the first film project out of the Random House Children's Books (RHCB) and Komixx Entertainment joint venture. Andrew Cole-Bulgin, partner and head of film & TV for RHCSE comments: "We took the exciting and somewhat unusual step to jointly develop the creative vision and script for the film, video game and mobile screen content prior to publication with Hothouse Fiction. They have demonstrated extraordinary originality with Monster Republic and we wanted to ensure that this was carried through to all levels of the creative process. We are already in talks with a major US studio concerning the production and distribution of the film." Philippa Dickinson, managing director, RHCB, comments: "I am pleased that RHCSE and Hothouse will be working together on the development of this innovative project. It is an exciting example of how RHCB, through its relationship with RHCSE is able to develop a concept from manuscript to a multimedia platform." Reg White, Hothouse Fiction, comments: "I'm delighted to see that Monster Republic is living up to expectations and attracting a great deal of positive attention. Brilliantly written, with a breathtaking cast of outcast but heroic monsters, it's a fabulously edgy, furiously-paced and exhilarating series." Monster Republic is an action-packed read, filled with dialogue, exciting battles and feisty characters. The novel was published by RHCB imprint Corgi in January. With a teen readership in mind, Horton set out to write a book that would steal young people's imaginations from the Xbox MSN and i-phones, and the outcome is a novel of enormous appeal for both teenagers and adult sci-fi fans alike. The novel is already garnering a glowing reception from the online community, with bloggers tipping it as a hit.
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