Thunderbird to adapt Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan novel ‘Mad Honey’

Canada’s Thunderbird Entertainment Group has optioned the rights to adapt the novel Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan as a scripted series.

Published last year, the novel explores the secrets that people keep and questions whether they can ever escape their past. Thunderbird describes it as “a visceral, heart-wrenching portrayal of young love, teen angst and parental grief and guilt, interwoven with murder and high-intensity courtroom drama.”

Picoult is the author of previously adapted novels such as My Sister’s Keeper, The Pact and Plain Truth, while Boylan is best-known for her memoir She’s Not There.

Thunderbird CEO and chair Jennifer Twiner McCarron, president and CCO Matthew Berkowitz and Tuatara Media principal Barbara Wall will executive produce on behalf of Thunderbird, along with Picoult and Boylan.

The optioning of Mad Honey follows the recent establishment of Thunderbird’s LA.-based scripted development hub and the appointment of former Netflix exec Hillary Zwick Turner as SVP of scripted content to lead the operation.

The show will join a scripted slate including season two of SyFy series Reginald The Vampire, CBC’s Strays and feature film Boot Camp.

“Jodi and Jennifer wrote such an incredibly moving story. We believe that narratives on this level can truly make a significant impact on the empathy we have for others and how people view their own actions as we co-exist in the world,” said Berkowitz.

“Mad Honey is exactly the kind of IP we’re looking for as we build out our premium scripted business, and we are thankful to the team working on this project for bringing it to fruition.”