Deadline reports that an eight-figure bidding war has erupted over the rights to a new thriller novel from a surprising authorial team: the world's best-selling author, James Patterson, and the world's biggest YouTuber, Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson.
The pair have apparently co-authored the novel, though I think we're all hoping Patterson did the heavy lifting, and Deadline claims it has "shades of Squid Game." This is not necessarily a surprise, with Squid Game merely the latest and most successful in the long-established sci-fi niche of "deadly gameshow", while MrBeast's own Beast Games proved one of Amazon Prime's most-watched shows last year.
MrBeast's profile and proven track record of success is one thing, but it's the involvement of James Patterson that will really have the executives salivating. Patterson is the best-selling living author in the world, incredibly prolific, and countless of his novels have become highly successful TV shows and films: most recently the Alex Cross novels as the Prime Video series Cross.
The novel is being shopped around by United Talent Agency, one of the world's biggest talent firms, and the law firm Williams & Connolly. Naturally studio executives are falling over themselves for what looks like a banker. The novel rights are one thing, but the real money will be in the film and TV rights with sources claiming UTA is already fielding "eight-figure offers."
Oddly enough there's also a nonfiction book included in the package, though there are no details on this.
The thriller's current title is apparently The Most Dangerous Game, but this could change. The book's logline (publishing speak for an elevator pitch) is "Players fight to survive deadly tests held in dangerous locations around the world, as they battle to become 'The One'." They've been watching the Matrix in-between Squid and Hunger Games, I guess.
