HarperCollins Books
To Be Developed
For TV, DVD Market

NEW YORK, NY/5/30/2006—HarperCollins announced late last week that it has made a deal with its sister company, Fox Television Studios (both are owned by NewsCorp) that will allow programming based on the publisher’s book titles to be developed and distributed by Fox in a variety of platforms, including, TV, DVD, wireless and online media.

The new partnership aims to bring both old and new titles to the small-screen entertainment world. Fox producer Karen Glass will be stationed in HarperCollins’s New York office and will be scouring the publisher’s current and backlist titles for potential television projects, initially focusing on mysteries and thrillers.

According to HC President Jane Friedman, the first two HarperCollins titles headed for Fox television will be Legal Tender, part of Lisa Scottoline’s nine-volume series about the Rosato law firm, now in development at Fox TV Studios; and The Reading Group, Elizabeth Noble’s book now under option with Fox.

Friedman said the deal is a deliberate effort by HarperCollins to produce its content in a variety of platforms both existing and emerging. Friedman and Fox Television Studios president Angela Shapiro-Mathes have been exploring the cross production of content for some time.