Matthew Reilly Heads Stateside

Posted on June 4, 2007

Bestselling Australian author Matthew Reilly is best known to American readers for his thrillers, such as Seven Deadly Wonders and Temple. But Matthew is also a screenwriter and his latest concept is being made into a pilot for U.S. television. The pilot is called Literary Superstars and it was bought by Sony. The pilot follows the adventures of a book publicist who has to deal with a crazed (or is that crazy?) new author each week. It's billed as Sex in the City-ish in style and tone, which is mind-boggling to anyone who knows anything at all about book publicity. Stressful, yes. But sexy? Really?

Reilly tells ABC, "The way to sustain the show, I figured, was to tell it from the point of view of a publicist who travels and works with a new eccentric author each week. To me, watching an author write would be boring but watching them grapple with the media obligations of selling a book would be much more interesting."

We know some mid-list authors who would say the show is clearly a fantasy that belongs on the Sci Fi channel, because of the personal attention lavished on lots of authors by a major publishing house's publicists, but hey -- let's not quibble here.

We hope this one gets picked up, because we really have to see this pilot. Ok, let the casting ideas begin. Who would be perfect as a sexy book publicist who has to handle crazy authors, greedy corporate moguls and devious journalists, all while looking fabulous? It's very Kim Cattrall, isn't it? Or is it more Winona Ryder in her comeback role? Maybe it's the role that Victoria Beckham has been searching for to launch her U.S. career? Not that we follow her, or anything.