Film rights pre-empted to Simon Stephenson debut

Film rights to Simon Stephenson's debut Set My Heart to Five (Fourth Estate) have been pre-empted by Working Title Films and Complete Fiction Pictures, with Edgar Wright slated to direct.

The film deal was brokered by Luke Speed of the Curtis Brown Group on behalf of Sophie Lambert of C&W Agency. The two production firms secured the rights alongside Focus Features and Universal Pictures International.

Wright, director of “Shaun of the Dead” and “Baby Driver”, will direct while Stephenson (pictured) is set to adapt from his own manuscript.

Set in 2054, Set My Heart to Five introduces Jared, an android who undergoes an emotional awakening and embarks on a quest to convince humans that he and his kind should be permitted to feel. It’s a quest, sparked in part by Jared’s introduction to '80s and '90s movies, that leads to an adventure across the West Coast of America, after he determines to write a film script that will change the world.

Fourth Estate will publish the novel in summer 2020 and Hanover Square Press will publish in the US in September 2020.