Following a highly competitive, multi-studio bidding war, Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to fantasy romance novel Divine Rivals, the first novel in the bestselling Letters of Enchantment series by Rebecca Ross.
The studio has set Sofia Alvarez, best known for writing the adaptation of Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, to pen the script. Lorenzo di Bonaventura is producing under his first-look deal with the studio, as well as Pouya Shahbazian, a player in the book-to-screen world whose credits include the Divergent movie series.
The story is set in the shadow of an ancient war between dueling gods and tells of a pair of young rival journalists that fall in love while writing each other anonymous letters on an enchanted typewriter. The story has influences of You’ve Got Mail, World War One, and magic.
Rivals captured the attention of BookTok, where passionate fan engagement and viral content helped propel the novel to breakout success across social platforms.
The Letters of Enchantment series has spent more 125 weeks on The New York Times bestsellers list and were a Goodreads Choice Awards winner. The books have sold over one million copies, per the publisher. Ross, who is known for her YA fantasy works, has had her books translated into 27 languages.
The author, who has Rivals prequel Wild Reverence hitting shelves Sept. 2, will act as an executive producer on the project.
Alvarez wrote two of the popular To All the Boys movies for Netflix, adapting the novels by Jenny Han. She made her directorial debut with Netflix’s Along for the Ride, an adaptation of the novel by Sarah Dessen, which she also co-wrote. Alvarez is also a playwright, penning a musical adaptation of William Steig’s classic children’s book Amos & Boris, which premiered at South Coast Rep in 2018, among her works.
Ross is repped by Suzie Townsend and New Leaf Literary & Media. The latter also repped the film and TV rights on her behalf.
