Deadline New York broke the news that Panorama Media, Darko Entertainment, Handsomecharlie Films and producer Allison Shearmur will team up to produce to adapt the novel. They are looking for directors now. Here’s more from the press release:

The company will come on to produce, finance and will handle foreign sales on the film. Based on the book, the script is written by David O’Russell. The film will be produced by Darko Entertainment’s Sean McKittrick, Natalie Portman, Annette Savitch and Allison Shearmur of Allison Shearmur Productions. It will be executive produced by Darko’s Edward H. Hamm Jr., Aleen Keshishian and Panorama’s Marc Butan.

Via Seth Grahame-Smith

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Dune screenwriter Chase Palmer will help with the script, and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies author Seth Grahame-Smith has joined the production team. A television miniseries adaptation of the film scared this GalleyCat editor silly as a kid, but the massive novel could easily fill two films. Wikipedia has a lengthy entry on the excellent novel:

The story follows the exploits of seven children as they are terrorized by the eponymous inter-dimensional predatory life-form that exploits the fears and phobias of its victims in order to disguise itself while hunting its prey. “It” primarily appears in the form of “Pennywise the Dancing Clown”, described by characters who see It as resembling a combination of Bozo, Clarabell and Ronald McDonald, in order to attract its preferred prey of young children. The novel is told through narratives alternating between two time periods and is largely told in the third-person omniscient mode. It deals with themes which would eventually become King staples: the power of memory, childhood trauma and the ugliness lurking behind a façade of traditional small-town values.

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A new trailer has been released for the adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, a big screen adaptation of a mash-up novel by Seth Grahame-Smith.

Produced by the great Tim Burton, the film comes out in June–what do you think? Here is a concise plot summary: “Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, discovers vampires are planning to take over the United States. He makes it his mission to eliminate them.”

Way back in 2010, we interviewed Grahame-Smith about his Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter novel, exploring how the bestselling monster mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies had changed his life. Click here to listen to the interview.

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Ever read Seth Grahame-Smith‘s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and wish you had wrote it first? Now you can enter the Jane Austen parody game with the Bad Austen contest and win $250 in prize money.

Read the complete rules here. Eighty of the 800-word entries will be published in Adams Media’s upcoming compilation,  Bad Austen. Runner-up winners will receive two free copies of the anthology. The judges include Patrice Hannon, Ph.D, Carrie Bebris, and Gregory Bergman. The deadline is March 1st 2011.

Here’s more about the contest: “Our distinguished panelists will then decide which awful scenes to feature in a Bad Austen compilation that will be published in Fall 2011 by Adams Media. You can also vote for your favorite scenes on the site. The top reader-voted scene will receive special recognition in Bad Austen, the book.”

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The Daily News explained how Greenman conceived this idea for “Tab Lit:” “Greenman determined that the best way to update Chekhov’s dramas of love, loss and pride was via our national obsession with fame. ‘Aren’t celebrities fictional characters anyway?’ he asks. Besides, he points out, celebrities face ‘similar pressures’ to Chekhov’s characters: Many of the stories deal with the divide between public and private.”

Earlier this year, Greenman released What He’s Poised To Do, a collection of fourteen short stories about love and letter-writing. Chekhov was renowned for his short stories and plays, especially his four major plays: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard. He also practiced medicine and maintained a busy career as a physician. According to the publication Letters of Anton Chekhov he once said, “Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress.”

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Deadline New York has the news: “Grahame-Smith, who made his Hollywood entry writing novels that put a macabre twist to literary classics and historical figures, has just gotten the high profile job of writing the new draft of Dark Shadows, the Tim Burton-directed adaptation of the 60s daytime serial that will star Johnny Depp as the vampire Barnabas Collins.”

Back in February, we interviewed the author about his work. During the interview, he discussed his new book (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), the new MTV show he helped create, and the process of writing the screenplay for a Tim Burton-produced adaptation of the Lincoln mashup.

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Tonight Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, Ami Greko, and Ryan Chapman will host another 7x20x21 event, giving seven industry innovators a chance to show off their projects in quick slideshows. Click here to RSVP for the event at the Bowery Poetry Club in NYC.

If you live in Chicago, check out Quirk Book’s Monster Mash-Up Panel at the C2E2 festival on Friday. Here are more details: “Seth Grahame-Smith, Ben Winters, Steve Hockensmith, and Jason Rekulak: all the masterminds behind the Quirk Classics in one place, for the first time. Ever! If you’re going to C2E2, come by Room E351 on April 16 at 8PM. They will all be there to talk zombies, kraken, robots, more zombies, ninjas, and Jane Austen.”

Booked features the best events that come across our literary radar. Got any suggestions? Send them here. (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of The Dreadfuls image via)

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Here’s an excerpt from the subscription-only story: “The indications are that if the Agency Four have not finalized new digital sales agreements with Amazon prior to the launch of Apple’s iPad, they could face delisting from direct sale at Amazon, as Macmillan did.”

The New York Times has spoken with unnamed publishing executives about the terms of the eBook deal–noting that major publishers are “reluctant” to strike this kind of deal: “Amazon has agreed in principle that the major publishers would be able to set prices in its Kindle store as well. But it is also demanding that they lock into three-year contracts and guarantee that no other competitor will get lower prices or better terms. ”

Last month Amazon pulled the buy buttons on all Macmillan titles, making it impossible to buy directly through the online retailer. If you want to follow buy buttons from the Agency Four, we have a handy guide to double-checking after the jump. (Via MobyLives)

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As we head off into the weekend, check out that excellent video about the making of a book cover. If you want more weekend reading, here are our favorite headlines from the week.

In an interview, author Dr. Lynn Kern Koegel discussed writing books about autism–explaining how publishers can better serve parents with autistic children.

We reported the fabulous news that Radiohead guitarist and keyboardist Jonny Greenwood is writing the score for a film adaptation of a Haruki Murakami novel

Quirk Books took zombies to the nerdiest of all readers, acquiring Night of the Living Trekkies.

We found out the most “egregious offense” writers commit while pitching agent Michael Bourret.

Actress and musician Hilary Duff inked a multiple-book deal with Simon & Schuster Books.

We interviewed Seth Grahame-Smith about zombies, vampires, and mashup publishing.

Missed these stories? Email GalleyCat to get all our publishing stories, book deal news, videos, podcasts, interviews, and writing advice in a simple email newsletter.

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Does that violent book trailer seem like a movie? It might be a movie soon…

That’s the highly produced book trailer for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter–Seth Grahame-Smith‘s follow up to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. According to Deadline Hollywood, the book already is headed to the big screen.

Here’s the simple post: “Alice and Wonderland director Tim Burton has teamed with Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov to produce a movie version of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the Seth Grahame-Smith novel that Grand Central Publishing released today.”

Tune in next Monday when this GalleyCat editor interviews Grahame-Smith about his new novel on the Morning Media Menu. (Via Colleen Lindsay)

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CNN delivered the adaptation news is a single sentence: “Portman has signed on to produce and star in the movie version of the best-selling book ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,’ written by Seth Grahame-Smith and, uh, Jane Austen.”

The publishing world’s reaction to this little book has been mixed, but nobody can deny it has been a banner year for the Little Zombie Book That Could. The news finishes a magical run: the title went from GalleyCat feature to bestselling book to publishing trend. Link via Powell’s.

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According to MobyLives, only one indie book has made the Book Club during the 13 years the popular host started the club–picking W.W. Norton’s “House of Sand and Fog” by Andre Dubus III in 2000. Winfrey’s seal of approval virtually assures bestseller status for a title.

Here are a few of the indie summer picks, from the post: “‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,’ published by David Borgenicht‘s Philadelphia-based Quirk Books, is credited to Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith … The next independently published title on Oprah’s list is ‘The Peep Diaries: How We’re Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors’ (City Lights Books), by Hal Niedzviecki.”

UPDATE: A previous version of this post included an erroneous fact about the book club picks.

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Zombie-loving humorist Seth Grahame-Smith landed “a rumored $575,000″ two-book deal with Grand Central Press, according to Publishers Weekly. The first book of the series is tentatively titled, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.”

Grahame-Smith won Internet fame for his Quirk Books bestseller, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” GalleyCat has reported on this viral hit since its inception, including that video interview with a Quirk editor. Meanwhile, PPZ backlash has already begun.

Here’s more from the PW article: “[PPZ] came on assignment from Quirk’s editorial director, Jason Rekulak–he has been lifted into another literary stratosphere. (Quirk currently has more than 120,000 copies in print of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, after publishing the book on April 1.)”

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