Two Milligan novels optioned for TV

Allen & Unwin has optioned Louise Milligan’s crime novels Pheasants Nest and Shellybanks (both A&U) for screen adaptation by Ambience Entertainment.

Pheasants Nest (2024) follows the abduction of journalist Kate Delaney from a Melbourne street after a girls’ night out. The recently released Shellybanks deals with “trauma, survival and the courage of women facing the shadows of Ireland’s past,” according to the announcement.

An investigative journalist with ABC TV’s Four Corners, Milligan is also the author of Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell and Witness: An Investigation into the Brutal Cost of Seeking Justice.

Her books have received prizes including the Walkley Book Award, the Melbourne Prize for Literature People’s Choice Award, and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards’ People’s Choice prize. Born in Ireland, she moved to Australia as a child.

Ambience Entertainment has produced film adaptations such as Tomorrow, When the War Began, Storm Boy and Barrumbi Kids. Most recently, the company has produced multiple seasons of Muster Dogs, The Garden Hustle, Bruce Beresford’s The Travellers and Matthew Reilly’s Interceptor.

Milligan said, “I wrote both of these books with a visual adaptation in mind, and I’m so excited about that becoming a reality and screen viewers falling in love with the characters of Kate Delaney and Liam Carroll the way readers have. […] I’m so looking forward to working on this exciting project in Australia and my birth country of Ireland with Monica.”

Executive producer Monica O’Brien said, “Louise Milligan’s evocative writing takes you intimately into the lives and perspectives of her characters, which is a compelling launch pad for a screen adaptation of these riveting crime thrillers. With the story playing out across Australia and Ireland, the series will be developed as an international co-production for a global audience.”

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions