As film and television studios look for original content to bring to life, some have turned to fan fiction authors to illustrate these detailed stories and bring into fruition. Projects such as The Kissing Booth, After, Death is My BFF, and the 50 Shades trilogy all started out as a fictional story written by fans.
As even studios such as Sony Pictures Television has seen the value and popularity of such tales, the studio has inked a new, first-look deal with Wattpad, according to Variety.
As part of the new picture deal, SPT has entered a new co-production deal with the fanfiction site for original TV programming. The companies plan to work together to sift through the billions of popular stories on the website and develop popular tales from the Wattpad platform for the silver screen.
“Wattpad has solidified itself as a powerful platform to identify new content, spot emerging trends and help Wattpad creators transition IP into film and television,” UTA Head of Emerging Platforms Oren Rosenbaum says in a statement. “This new partnership with Sony will competitively position both companies in the ever changing content ecosystem.”
This new deal follows the companies’ announcement last month that Sony would develop Katerina E. Tonks’ popular story “Death is My BFF” for Syfy with Wattpad and Greg Silverman’s Stampede Ventures.
“The stories and diverse voices on Wattpad deserve to be heard all over the world,” head of Wattpad Studios Aron Levitz says in the statement. “And our partnership with Sony does just that: bringing Wattpad stories to new and existing fans all over the planet.”
Photo: Wattpad Studios
