‘Charlie Matthau and Michael Zoumas have formed Matthau-Zoumas Literary to develop intellectual properties as books, concentrating on non-fiction, young adult and middle-grade novels, Variety has learned exclusively.
The company is sourcing book ideas internally as well as externally by partnering with writers with original ideas and reimagining unproduced screenplays as novels. Once the books sell into traditional publishing, Matthau-Zoumas Literary can pursue the projects in other mediums such as movie, TV, web series or video games. Developing books in this way gives the company the ability to have more creative control at the critical and early stages of a project.
“We believe we can develop high-quality material that can attract attention from studios, which are always looking for tested, branded intellectual property,” the partners said.
Matthau-Zoumas Literary already has several books in development, including “Run and Hide,” a young adult thriller written by Jennifer Brown; “Copycats,” a middle grade fantasy adventure novel from Bryan Chick, author of the “Secret Zoo” series; and “Field Guide to the Supernatural Universe” by New York Times best-selling author Alyson Noel.’
Via Variety