Up and coming UK producers Loran Dunn, Sorcha Bacon, and Savannah James-Bayly have launched their own production company, Teen Club, focusing on stories about young queer women. According to Screen Daily, Teen Club has optioned its first book, Erin Gough’s award-winning young adult novel “Amelia Westlake Was Never Here.”
The trio is currently looking for screenwriters to pen the project. No word on whether the adaptation will be for television or the big screen.
Gough’s 2018 book “follows teenagers Wilhelmina and Harriet as they join forces under the guise of fictional student Amelia Westlake to carry out a series of pranks that expose harassment and inequality at their elite private school,” per the source. “As the antics grow more elaborate, the pair realize they may be falling for each other.”
Bacon described the novel as having “a provocative edge that makes a statement about elitism, prejudice, and challenging the status quo, whilst also delivering on all the must-haves of a classic teen rom-com.”
“Amelia Westlake Was Never Here” won the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature and the Readings Young Adult Book Prize. Gough’s other works include novel “The Flywheel” and short stories “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass” and “Distance.”
Named a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2017, Dunn has produced doc feature “A Deal with the Universe” and miniseries “Shortflix.” She directed shorts “By My Hand or His,” “Tuesday,” and “(Empty-field),” and produced the latter two as well.
The BIFA and BAFTA-nominated short “Wren Boys” is among Bacon’s producing credits. She was recently accepted to the BFI Insight program.
James-Bayly is developing features with Film4 and the Scottish Film Talent Network. She has produced several shorts and served as associate producer on feature “A Guide to Second Date Sex” and series “Queens of Mystery.”