A24, the independent production company behind critically acclaimed films such as Midsommar and Pearl, has won the rights to adapt hit true crime podcast The Girlfriends into a TV series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
After outbidding other competitors and acquiring the adaptation rights to the podcast, A24 brought on writer and director Michael Showalter and his production company Semi-Formal to work on the project. Showalter previously worked on The Dropout for Disney+, adapted from an ABC podcast, and also executive produced and directed The Shrink Next Door for Apple TV+, which is an adaptation of Wondery’s hit podcast of the same name.
The Girlfriends launched in July 2023 under production company Novel and iHeartPodcasts, in collaboration with domestic and sexual violence awareness nonprofit organisation NO MORE. The nine-part series tells the story of a group of women who came together to collect evidence against their ex and put him behind bars for murdering his wife.
The adaptation will join A24’s portfolio of hit TV series including Beef for Netflix, The Idol and Euphoria for HBO, Dreaming Whilst Black for Showtime, and more. The indie company also partnered with Crooked Media in 2018 to bring its hit politics podcast series Pod Save America to HBO, covering the midterm elections.
Other podcasts from Novel include true crime investigative series Filthy Ritual, created in partnership with Global, hosted by the creators and hosts of award-winning true-crime podcast RedHanded, Hannah Maguire and Suruthi Bala. During this year’s IAB Podcast Upfronts, Global announced that it was currently having discussions about adapting Filthy Ritual and investigative podcast Hunting Ghislaine into TV series.
Amazon-owned podcast company Wondery also spoke about its plans to adapt more podcast shows into TV and Film as part of its new strategy, following the success of The Shrink Next Door and true crime series Dr. Death - the latter of which will be returning for its fourth season in December this year.
“Nothing is more indicative of the power of Wondery’s storytelling than our ability to travel beyond your headphones,” said Wondery UK head of sales Nicole Gardner. “We are the podcast studio that sees more of our shows go from headphones to Hollywood with over 25 projects sold to networks, streamers and studios including Apple TV, Prime Video, and Sky.”
