Fox Entertainment has acquired the rights to Lisa Lutz's six-novel series, which was launched in 1997 with The Spellman Files, to develop as a drama series, Deadline reported, adding that the network is also bidding on other book properties.
"We have a book scout in New York in addition to our development teams," said Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn. "We are going to take each property and look at it--what is the best way to package this book, who are the best auspices to help bring this to life, what studio are they based at. If they are based at a studio, we can approach that studio with something the talent and the studio know we are passionate about. If the talent are free-ball, we can partner with (the Fox-owned, Gail Berman-run) SideCar and use our partnership with them."
Regarding The Spellman Files acquisition, Thorn noted: "I've always tried to get it as a producer, I wanted it when I was at (20th Century Fox TV) but it was always tied up." When the Fox book scout recently called to say that the rights were available, "we moved in there and grabbed them."