Werner Film Productions options Legge memoir screen rights

Werner Film Productions (WFP) has optioned the screen rights to Kate Legge’s memoir Infidelity & Other Affairs, in a deal negotiated by Thames & Hudson (T&H) Australia on behalf of Legge.

WFP, which produced the television series The Newsreader, Riot, and Dance Academy, has plans to develop the memoir for television.

Legge’s memoir ‘is a powerful and wise mediation on the impact of unfaithfulness in a marriage’, said T&H. ‘When faced with her husband’s affair, Legge discovered a fault line of betrayal running through four generations of his family, which began a search for answers both close to home and more universally.’ The publisher described the book as ‘an inspiring investigation into betrayal, and after the fury, where acceptance and joy are found’ by a journalist turning the lens on her own life.

Legge is a journalist and author, whose novel The Unexpected Elements of Love (Viking) was longlisted for the 2007 Miles Franklin Literary Award. She also previously published the nonfiction book Kindred: A Cradle Mountain story (MUP), which was shortlisted in the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards.

In a comment for IF magazine, WFP producer Joanne Werner described Legge’s memoir as a ‘beautifully nuanced take on infidelity and relationships’, and said WFP was excited to adapt it into ‘an equally compelling premium drama’.

Zeitgeist Agency represents the book outside Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions