Banijay-owned Yellow Bird UK (Young Wallander, The Girl In The Spider’s Web) has optioned the rights to the new novel from international best-selling author Alison Gaylin – The Collective – and will develop it into a major TV series.
The book, which launches in November, tells the story of just how far a grieving mother will go to right a tragic wrong.
The novel is centred around Camille Gardener – a grieving and angry mother who, five years after her daughter’s death, is still obsessed with the privileged young man she believes to be responsible.
When her rash actions draw the attention of a secret group of women – the collective – Camille is drawn into a dark web where these mothers share their wildly different stories of loss as well as their desire for justice in a world where privilege denies accountability. Fuelled by mutual rage, the collective members devise and act out retribution fantasies via precise, anonymous, highly coordinated revenge killings.
Luke Franklin, Director of Development for Yellow Bird UK, said: “In ‘The Collective’, Alison Gaylin has crafted an unputdownable, subversively playful thriller which pulls no punches in the timely, hard questions it asks of protagonist Camille Gardener – a flawed, heroic, complex female lead of the sort we rarely see – and of the society whose injustices she attempts to redress.”
Berna Levin, Creative Director for Yellow Bird UK, said: “From page one I was gripped – Camille forces us to examine our own moral compass, and indeed what we’d do faced with the same high-stakes choices – and I knew ‘The Collective’ should be adapted for the screen. I’m honoured that Alison has entrusted Yellow Bird UK to do so.”
Alison Gaylin, added: “As a mother, I thought about the worst possible thing that could happen — a child taken, the person responsible going unpunished… I don’t think I would ever be able to “move on” from something like that, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized how tragically common it is. That was the seed that inspired The Collective. A lot of emotion went into the writing of it, and I think it’s by far my most terrifying book.
“I couldn’t think of better people to bring it to life onscreen than the brilliant team at Yellow Bird UK. I’m so impressed with their ideas for the book, and by the shows they’ve produced. I’m thrilled to be partnering with them.”
Jon Creamer
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