Film rights to McFadden’s The Housemaid snapped up in four-way auction 

Producer Todd Lieberman, behind films such as “Beauty and the Beast” and “Wonder”, has triumphed in a four-way auction for the film rights to The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (Bookouture). 

The film will be the first project taken on by Leiberman’s newly formed film and television production company Hidden Pictures. The deal, brokered by Bookouture’s head of rights Richard King, is part of a strategic partnership with global content leader Lionsgate which is financing the acquisition. 

McFadden said of the news: “I am so grateful to all the readers who helped make The Housemaid a success and I’m incredibly excited to see how the Hidden Pictures team will bring my book to life.”

The Housemaid – about a desperate woman taking a job working for a wealthy family who aren’t all they seem –  was acquired for Bookouture direct from the author by associate publisher Ellen Gleeson and published in e-book, audio and print-on-demand paperback at the end of April 2022, with a mass market paperback coming up from Little, Brown’s Sphere imprint in December 2022.

The book quickly became an Amazon top five bestseller in both the US and the UK, and a success in Kindle Unlimited, Amazon’s subscription reading service, according to the publisher. Bookouture’s rights team has concluded 20 foreign rights deals and counting, including a four-way German auction and a three-way Spanish auction.

Gleeson said: “Freida has had an amazing self-publishing career and it was a very exciting day at Bookouture when she signed with us. The Housemaid is a perfectly crafted psychological thriller, packed with twist after twist, and to have the whole Hidden Pictures team on board sharing our passion for this book is such a joy.”