New Line Acquires Rebecca Serle’s Novel ‘In Five Years’ For HBO Max

EXCLUSIVE: New Line has picked up the rights to Rebecca Serle’s New York Times bestselling novel In Five Years for HBO Max and set No Good Deed scribe Aimee Lagos to adapt. Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will produce.

In Five Years is a love story that explores the power of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of destiny. It follows an ambitious lawyer who experiences an astonishing vision that could change her life forever.

The New York Times bestselling author Serle also wrote One Italian Summer, The Dinner List, and the YA novels The Edge of Falling and When You Were Mine. Serle developed the hit TV adaptation Famous in Love, based on her YA series of the same name. In Five Years spent 16 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Lagos most recently wrote the screen adaptation of Terry McMillan’s bestselling novel I Almost Forgot About You for Universal. Currently in pre-production, I Almost Forgot About You stars Viola Davis with Malcolm Lee producing. Lagos also wrote Universal’s upcoming feature Make Some Noise, produced by George Tillman. She wrote and executive produced the thriller No Good Deed for Screen Gems starring Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson, which opened up at No. 1 at the domestic box office in September 2014 to $24.2M and grossed over $54M WW. Lagos also wrote and directed the award-winning independent thriller 96 Minutes starring David Oyelowo and Brittany Snow. On the TV side, Lagos developed the original pilot Searching For Me with Chernin Entertainment for 20th Century Fox/FBC.

Working Title’s upcoming slate includes What’s Love Got To Do With It starring Lily James and Emma Thompson; The Swimmers directed by Sally El Hosaini; a film adaptation of Catherine, Called Birdy, written and directed by Lena Dunham; Matilda directed by Matthew Warchus; and Ticket to Paradise starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts.

TFC Productions’ Serle and David Stone will executive produce alongside Alexandra Loewy. Serle is repped WME, TFC Management, and Jackoway, Tyerman, Wertheimer, Austen, Mandelbaum, Morris & Klein. Lagos is repped by UTA, Jon Huddle and attorney Jonathan Shikora.