Cerar Developing 'Drowning In Paper Flowers' Novel For TV
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- Marissa Jo Cerar is developing E.L. Westbury's novel 'Drowning in Paper Flowers' for television, partnering with Jenna Bush Hager and Ben Spector's Thousand Voices along with Universal Global Television.
- The novel centers on Ruby Powell, a Dallas housewife whose polished facade collapses amid marital dissatisfaction, anti-anxiety medication addiction, a teenage daughter's resentment, her 6-year-old son's PTSD from a past kidnapping, an affair, a dead body, and a lifelong secret.
- Originally self-published in December 2024, the domestic thriller sparked a highly competitive auction that culminated in a seven-figure deal with Atria Books in North America, with UK and Commonwealth rights going to Orion (Hachette UK) and translation rights sold in six languages.
- Atria and Orion relaunched the novel on August 11, marking Westbury's traditional publishing debut; Westbury is represented by WME.
- Cerar, an NAACP Image Award and two-time Humanitas Prize winner, previously created ABC's 'Women of the Movement' and adapted Charmaine Wilkerson's 'Black Cake' for Hulu, with additional projects in development at Hulu, UTV, and Paramount TV.
- Bush Hager and Thousand Voices hold a first-look deal with Universal Studio Group, giving the adaptation a pre-existing studio pipeline and represented by UTA.
Why it matters: Cerar, whose 'Black Cake' adaptation established her as a go-to literary adapter, attaches herself to a self-published novel that landed a seven-figure Atria deal within roughly two years of its December 2024 release, while Bush Hager's first-look relationship with Universal gives Westbury's breakout book a direct path to screen under a pre-existing studio pipeline.
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