Sarah DeLappe

Source: Elisa Quero/Neon

Sarah DeLappe

US production and distribution outfit Neon has won the rights to develop an adaptation of Dorothy Baker’s 1962 novel Cassandra At The Wedding into a feature.

Neon will develop in partnership with Seaview and star of TV series Search Party and The Afterparty, John Early. Neon will also produce, with Brad Becker-Parton and Greg Nobile on behalf of New York based Seaview, along with Early plus Leslie Conliffe from Los Angeles talent agency Intellectual Property Group.

US writer Sarah DeLappe will adapt the book for screen and executive produce. Her previous screenwriting credits include SXSW premiere Bodies, Bodies, Bodies.

The novel follows Cassandra Edwards, a gay, intelligent but miserable graduate student at Berkeley who drives back to her family ranch in the foothills of the Sierras for the wedding of her identical twin sister, with the aim of sabotaging it.

Cassandra At The Wedding joins a growing Neon production and development slate that also includes Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool starring Alexander Skarsgard and Joshua Oppenheimer’s musical The End starring Tilda Swinton.

The company is coming out of a busy awards season in which three of its acquisition titles – Flee, The Worst Person In The World and Spencer – combined for multiple Oscar and Bafta nominations.