EXCLUSIVE: A book about the rise and fall of Barneys is about to become a TV show.
Shiny Penny Productions and Five All in the Fifth Entertainment are developing Gene Pressman’s forthcoming memoir They All Came to Barneys, which comes out Sept. 2 from Viking Books/Penguin Random House. Beth Schacter (Billions, The Morning Show) will write while Joe Wright (The Agency) will direct the adaptation that will follow the three-generation saga about Pressman’s family’s fashion retail empire.
Shiny Penny’s Stacey Sher and Five All’s Douglas Banker and Alex Garinger will executive produce, alongside Noah Levy, Francey Grace, Sophie De Rakoff, Pressman, Schacter, and Wright.
Pressman was co-CEO, creative director, and head of merchandising and marketing for Barneys New York, which his grandfather Barney founded in 1923. Over eight decades under the Pressmans — first Barney, then his son Fred, then Fred’s sons Gene and Bob — Barneys grew from a small discount shop to the largest men’s store in the world, then an internationally recognized destination for men’s and women’s fashion, accessories, and home furnishings. It was an American success story — until ambition and risky business threatened to tear it all apart.
They All Came to Barneys is described as offering “a front-row seat to the rise of some of the biggest names in fashion — from Giorgio Armani and Azzedine Alaïa to Anna Wintour and Steven Meisel — and the store that came to dress an entire generation of celebrities, models, artists, and magnates.”
“They All Came to Barneys is the true story of how we built Barneys into -– if I do say so myself— the greatest store in the greatest city in the world,” said Pressman in a statement. “Now I’m so excited to partner with Beth, Joe, and these incredible creatives to imagine the fictional version of this story — in which nothing will be off-limits.”
“Gene Pressman’s story, and the story of Barneys, is a quintessentially modern and American one; of immigrants, of American business, of family legacy,” added Schacter. “That it happens to be about my favorite decades in New York and one of my favorite places in New York is just a gift beyond measure. And to have collaborators like Joe Wright and Stacey Sher is an absolute dream.”
Schacter is the executive producer of Peacock’s Five Star Weekend, with Dinner Party Productions and UCP. It’s based on the novel by Elin Hilderbrand. She previously served as co-showrunner on seasons five through seven of Billions, as well as the first season of Super Pumped, along with Brian Koppelman and David Levien.
Wright is a film director who studied at St. Martin’s College in London. With a total of nine feature films released to date, his directorial work has received 35 BAFTA, 24 Academy, and 12 Golden Globe Award nominations and wins. His feature film directorial debut was Pride & Prejudice in 2005, which earned him a BAFTA Award for Best Director.
His latest work is The Agency for Paramount+ and Showtime.
Sher is a two-time Academy Award nominee and has produced more than two dozen major motion pictures, including Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, Erin Brockovich, Out of Sight, Get Shorty, and Heretic.
Pressman is repped by Aevitas Creative Management and Bloch Law. Schacter is repped by CAA and Brillstein Entertainment. Wright is repped by CAA. Sher is repped by CAA and Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman.
