Netflix has picked up Prep, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Curtis Sittenfeld, as a series. According to Deadline, the 2005 novel is being developed internally as a half-hour project.
The project comes from Nicole Taylor (The Hour, The Nest), who served as head writer and executive producer for Netflix’s limited series One Day. Gloria Sanchez Productions is also involved in producing the series. Taylor, who is a BAFTA TV Award winner, is set to be the writer and showrunner of the project. She will also executive produce alongside Will Ferrell (Elf, Step Brothers), Jessica Elbaum (Will & Harper, You’re Cordially Invited), and Alix Taylor (Feast, Maniac) for Gloria Sanchez Productions and Sittenfeld.
“Prep is my all-time favourite novel, and I have longed to adapt it for the entire twenty years since I first read it and found myself reflected uncannily back,” Taylor said of the novel. “There is no more acute depiction of the introspective, bookish, self-conscious adolescent girl and no more truthful or excoriating take on the perils of social mobility than in Curtis Sittenfeld’s beautiful first novel. I am overjoyed to be adapting for Netflix.”
Prep follows Lee Fiora, a scholarship student at Ault, a prestigious New England boarding school. Away from her home in Indiana, Lee is a fish-out-of-water attempting to navigate normal teenage interactions like friendship, crushes, and class. Meanwhile, her classmates are privileged and quite confident.
HBO previously attempted to adapt the book ten years ago as a comedy written by Colleen McGuinness (30 Rock, Loser) and Carolyn Strauss (Game of Thrones, The Last of Us), but the series did not materialize. Although Netflix’s take will utilize a 30-minute runtime, it will not be a comedy.
“I’m overjoyed that Netflix is making Prep as a TV show — the 22-year wait was worth it!” author Curtis Sittenfeld said. “Alix Taylor at Gloria Sanchez has guided the project forward with such intelligence and enthusiasm, and Nicole Taylor’s scripts are truly brilliant. Nicole’s adaptation makes me understand my own novel, and myself, better. My 51-year-old self can’t wait to see what they do with this story of privilege, longing, and teen angst.”