Film rights for French's memoir sold to Papandrea after 18-way auction

The film rights for Erin French's "extraordinary" memoir Finding Freedom in the Lost Kitchen (Aurum) have been sold to Bruna Papandrea, founder of the production company Made Up Stories, after an 18-way auction. 

A deal was negotiated for French by Management 360, Janis Donnaud of Janis Donnaud & Associates and Peter Grant of Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks.

Papandrea is the Oscar and Emmy nominated and award-winning producer of "Big Little Lies", "Gone Girl", "Wild" and, most recently, the celebrated Nicole Kidman-Hugh Grant series "The Undoing". She will develop the film based on the life of the chef and entrepreneur French, whose Maine-based restaurant, The Lost Kitchen, is so popular that the only way to eat there is to send a postcard and be chosen.

It will be produced alongside Allie Goss and Steve Hutensky at Endeavor Content.

French's book was published in April this year by the Macmillan imprint Celadon Books in the US and by Aurum in the UK on 4th May. It went straight into the New York Times bestseller list on publication in the US.

Papandrea said: “Allie and I both reacted so strongly to Erin’s poignant memoir and the stories that led her to the amazing community of women of The Lost Kitchen. The women of Made Up Stories and our partners at Endeavor Content work tirelessly to find stories like Erin’s to put into the world. We were so inspired by her honesty and emotional rawness in writing about her journey to rock bottom (a few times over), her resilience to survive and rebuild, and her inspiring courage to continually grow stronger. It’s an extraordinary story, and we truly believe it’ll make an extraordinary film.”

Endeavor Content said: “We are excited to build on our longstanding and exceptional relationship with Made Up Stories in bringing Erin’s powerful story of struggle, resilience and passion to the screen. We feel honoured to help tell this story alongside such brilliant women, and look forward to seeing it come to life.”

French added: “Made Up Stories embodies the same grit, grace and tenacity that my team and I strive for at The Lost Kitchen. We share a passion and drive for celebrating and championing women in our respective industries and beyond. And though I am deeply honoured and humbled to know that my story captured the hearts and minds of so many amazingly talented, accomplished and legendary people in Hollywood, I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with Bruna and her team to bring Finding Freedom in the Lost Kitchen to life on screen.”