Justin Halpern's Debut Novel 'Get Lost' Out Next Month
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- Justin Halpern's debut novel "Get Lost" will be released next month through Hachette's Cardinal imprint, with roughly a third to half of it written during the WGA strike while he walked the picket line every day.
- "Get Lost" took Halpern about 2.5 years total to finish; he said he conceived the idea on the strike line because he "wasn't going to write anything for TV or movies" and developed it before heading home each evening to write.
- "Abbott Elementary" has Halpern and Patrick Schumacker as executive producers and co-showrunners alongside creator Quinta Brunson, and the duo discussed the show's upcoming season on Variety's "Daily Variety" podcast.
- Netflix is developing a series adaptation of Halpern's 2012 high school memoir "I Suck at Girls," which Halpern described as "very R-rated, hard and funny" and set in a high school world.
- Halpern said the Netflix platform allows "I Suck at Girls" to carry a harder edge than the numerous broadcast network shows he and Schumacker have produced over the years.
Why it matters: The WGA strike — which Halpern says froze his TV and film writing — instead produced his debut novel, conceived on the picket line and finished over 2.5 years. The Netflix deal for "I Suck at Girls" also signals a tonal shift for a writer-producer best known for broadcast work like "Abbott Elementary," giving Halpern and Schumacker room to push past network content standards.
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