In an era of sequels, reboots, and superhero tentpoles the quiet emergence of book-to-tv/film adaptations underscores a curious shift in Hollywood’s appetite for mid-budget, character-driven stories. Studios leaning into literary IP isn’t a new trend – Mystic River (2003), The Notebook (2004), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Atonement (2007) The Social Network (2010), The Glass Castle (2017) to name a few. What has changed is the market itself: intentional & increasingly selective.
With audiences already drawn to stories that arrive with built-in readerships, novels have become a steady and somewhat fresh source of adaptable material across film and television. Recent successes like The Housemaid (currently at $137 million worldwide) and It Ends With Us, signal that when executed well, these adaptations can still break through culturally and commercially.
That momentum is only accelerating – 2026 is lining up to be a big year for adapted novels with a high-profile slate of films ahead. Highly anticipated projects such as The Nightingale, Wuthering Heights, Verity, People We Meet on Vacation, Project Hail Mary, Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. Together, these projects point to how heavily studios are betting on books to anchor future slates.
Against this backdrop, I briefly spoke with Kristen Ruhlin (President of Development at Stormchaser Films) for a peek behind the curtain in the book-to-TV/Film landscape. to gain insight into the current book-to-film and book-to-TV landscape. Our conversation explored how is the industry currently evaluating book properties and what it takes for a story move from the page to the big screen. Ruhlin’s insights cut through the hype, revealing both pragmatic strategies from a smaller production company and unexpected creative opportunities.
When she began her career as an actor and writer, a 2017 opportunity to rework a completed film opened the door to development and, eventually, her current role as President of Film.
“What are some roadblocks in your transition from actor/writer to now President of Film did you face?”
KR: Oh, a ton of roadblocks! I face them everyday still. I’m still learning and I didn’t take a traditional path. Most, if not all of my peers at different production companies studios now, started off in the mailroom at agencies UTA or WME which led them to work or intern for a producer/production company. It’s what usually happens when you get out of college/film school. They rise up that corporate ladder. I heard of someone who interned for free for an entire year! I had to crack it a different way. I sometimes feel like I am at a disadvantage, because I haven’t had that same corporate structure upbringing. But I also have on-set experience, I know budgets, from the inception of story-making and an actors perspective all the way to delivery in post, quarterly reporting and accounting for films years later – I have a great grasp of knowledge that others wouldn’t have. But the inter-workings of house language in TV [we just started a year ago] and corporate infrastructure of development is still new.
I nodded to Celine Song’s Materialists panel at the 2025 Austin Film Festival, where she spoke about coming from a playwriting background and not initially knowing film terminology while making Past Lives (2023). Moment in her directing career early on she credits her producing partner, Christine Vachon, for helping her through.
KJ: I had a meeting with the new CEO of Warner Bros Television and he was so kind with his time. He told me ‘Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Or say, hey, will you explain this to me like I’m five years old?’ It’s the entry point to your knowledge of learning more and really grasping it. It was such a kind, generous thing for him to say. It’s served me well, rather than pretending that I don’t know something. I’m still learning every day!
I also noted Ruhlin’s growing presence on TikTok and how informative her videos have been.
“I don’t know if anyone has told you, but your videos are so informative!”
KJ: Thanks so much! I was so shy to do it. I learn so much from there. Just the other day I learned about some of the different ways writers are paid on TV. To have that information going in and the transparency just helps all of us. There are so many things I wish I knew years ago. You don’t know until someone tells you!
“How does Stormchaser’s approach to book IP differ from major studios like Warner Bros. or Amazon? What does the process typically look like?“
KR: Everyone’s after good IP and good stories – the trend right now is true stories. We [Stormchaser] will never ever be able to compete with Amazon/Netflix/Warner Bros for a book IP. They have incredible creatives in departments that solely focus on book IP. They figure out what’s on their slate to develop internally and then reach out to smaller studios [like us] and production companies/producers to partner on said projects. For Stormchaser, internally, we meet with book agents in New York, LA, Philadelphia to find those interesting stories and books that aren’t on the radar of a larger studio. These are normally smaller publishing companies or maybe smaller stories [not widely-known]. It’s about finding good, untapped material and how we can develop it. It’s also such a long process. With a book adaptation, it’s great because you have a built-in roadmap already there – the characters and story is already thought out. But finding the right writer/showrunner or director to breath that to life is so specific. From my experience it’s taken years to get a even single book packaged.
“What are some common misconceptions about adaptations? What makes a book better suited for TV rather than film, and vice versa?“
KR: I can speak specifically about our current tv series in development [Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief], a true crime about the world’s most prolific jewel thief, Bill Mason. It spans over his double life between the 60s-80s, as a family man and a custodian in upper Cleveland, Ohio but also moonlighting as a cat burglar. Because of the span of his life (the characters, the events to tell), it has to be a series. There’s just so much material to work with. I see the different arcs & seasons. Finding the right people to champion it is also important – for me, I’m from West Virginia and Ohio [the book takes place in Cleveland] and I saw those elements in there. Our lead actor attached could identify with that as well. For other books that read more of a film, I remember reading an article in The National Geographic and as I was reading it, I saw in my head as a film. I didn’t even know it was a book that was about to be published. It’s a historical POV about the formidable bond of sisterhood – the 999 Slovakian young women who built Auschwitz. When I contacted them [The National Geographic], they put me in touch with the author. I read the 375 page manuscript in one day! It was so good and I saw the whole story immediately. Even though it place over decades, it was still conceivable as a film.
“Why does an ideal collaboration with an author look like from acquisition to first day on set?”
KR: Theres two categories: non-fiction and fiction. For non-fiction, this author has created something from years of research and documentation. They’ve become an expert, a voice, the connector to that world that you may not get any closer to. They almost always have a consulting partnership during development with the writer to tell the most authentic version of that story. Usually, the author understands the magical realism that often happens through developing these stories [bending the truth, leaving space for a unicorn] in order for the story on-screen to work. You know, authors can sometimes get protective [laughs]. We have the consultation with the author and take what we need for the story and leave the rest [to the screenwriter]. For fiction, it’s a bit different. I personally think it would be great if the author should have a shot of writing the script or at least a co-written by. They created these characters from their mind and there should be some open/collaborative relationship. Most studios when they option or buy book rights, they usually want to have full reign of developing the story the way they seem fit.
As the well-oiled Hollywood machine continues to pump out films, book-to-screen adaptations remain a driving force in development slates. With the year ahead, the industry’s reliance on literary IP shows no signs of slowing. The challenge lies in identifying stories that can move beyond surface recognition to long-form storytelling. What this conversation makes clear, however, is that the future of adaptation belongs to projects that are grounded in truth and developed by thoughtful collaboration between authors and studios.
