Los Angeles [US], August 5 : Indian production house, Applause Entertainment, has partnered with famed novelist Jeffrey Archer, signing a landmark deal to secure adaptation rights for the author's bestselling works.
According to Variety, the partnership involves the rights to Archer's "Clifton Chronicles" series of seven novellas, along with other of his standalone titles "The Fourth Estate", "First Among Equals", "The Eleventh Commandment", "Sons of Fortune" and "Heads You Win".
The company, which is the content arm of Aditya Birla Group, will be involved in the adaptation of the novels into films and TV shows, stated Deadline.
The deal has taken place nearly a year after negotiations, representing a major step for Indian content creation, further marking the company's first global book acquisition.
Speaking at a press conference, in which Archer also appeared through video link, Applause Entertainment CEO Sameer Nair confirmed that the work will immediately begin on the adaptations.
"New announcements expected in three to six months," he added, as quoted by Deadline.
Archer also urged Applause to work quickly as he playfully commented, "I'm 85 years old, so please get on with it." He also recalled how Indian people would react to the TV adaptation of his novel 'Kane and Abel', which he claimed was "stolen."
"There are wonderful stories to be told, which could be adapted into premium drama series, longform series or movies. My entire creative community are Archer fans, and I'm hoping they call me. I'm putting it out as a challenge to our creative friends," Nair said.
The CEO even revealed plans to reimagine Archer's timeless stories for the Indian audience.
"All these stories are global. We are going to tell them as local stories," he explained. "We are going to, in a sense, [bring them to] India, reimagined in India, and then going back out to the world," he shared.
Meanwhile, production timelines and further cast details about the adaptations are yet to be revealed.