EXCLUSIVE: Kit Williamson, who is behind hit LGBTQ series Unconventional, and Brittany Cavallaro, author of the Charlotte Holmes book series, met as teenagers at boarding school. They are now turning Cavallaro’s books, published by HarperCollins, into a TV series.
The pair are developing a series remake of Charlotte Holmes, which follows the adventures of the teenage descendants of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson at an elite New England boarding school.
The books have sold over a quarter million copies worldwide with international publications in Germany, Brazil, France, Turkey, Georgia, Japan, Taiwan and China. The first book in the four-book series, A Study in Charlotte, was the first young adult novel to ever be selected as the Target Book of the Month.
In the series, the teenage descendants of Holmes and Watson, are framed for murder under circumstances ripped from the pages of a Sherlock Holmes story, and they must race against the police to find the real killer before they strike again.
The duo will co-write the script after Williamson optioned the books through his production company Go Team Entertainment. They previously partnered on an adaptation of Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar novels for Universal Television.
It comes as Williamson is enjoying success with Unconventional, which launched on streamer Revry earlier this year. The nine-part series, about a queer chosen family with a queer millennial navigating the complexities of his 10-year marriage, ambivalence about starting a family, and academic uncertainties—all while serving as a sperm donor for his sister’s wife, has become the most-watched original scripted series on the platform.
Williamson, who played Ed Gifford in AMC’s Mad Men, is also behind EastSiders, which is streaming on Netflix. Williamson is repped by Buchwald and More/Medavoy.
Cavallaro is also the author of historical fantasy duopoly Muse and wrote Hello Girls with Emily Henry and Sunrise Nights with Jeff Zentner.
