EXCLUSIVE: Greg Silverman’s Stampede Ventures is moving ahead with its prestige adaptation of Max Seeck’s bestselling Nordic Noir book series The Faithful Reader featuring the detective Jessica Niemi.
CEO Stampede Silverman will produce the psychological thriller alongside John-Paul Sarni, Seeck, and G4C’s Gudrun Giddings. Amelia Mysko of Stampede will serve as co-producer.
The Faithful Reader, published as The Witch Hunter in US and UK, takes place in Helsinki, Finland, and follows Niemi as she investigates a copycat killer that forces her to confront the past as she uncovers a dark ancestral secret.
Writing team Chris Murray and Maria Ward will adapt the English-language series and have most recently been writing Van der Valk for All3Media/Company Pictures. Their co-writing credits include Cannes Confidential for Acorn/TF1, which Murray co-created; and episodes of Midsomer Murders for All3Media/Bentley Productions, and Agatha Raisin for Company Pictures/Free At Last.
The Faithful Reader series is earmarked for a production start in Europe later this year. Stampede Ventures initially optioned the rights in 2019 and eventually purchased the book.
“We couldn’t be more excited to have Chris and Maria adapting this phenomenal piece of IP,” said Silverman. “Their mastery of the genre will enthral audiences as we explore the gripping and suspenseful world Seeck has created.”
Stampede’s previous Nordic Noir series, The Darkness, just sold to Channel 4 through CBS Studios. That drama is based on the book by Ragnar Jónasson.
Sarni was most recently EVP, head of international content and IP acquisitions at Stampede Ventures. He served as executive producer on Gold Diggers for Australia’s ABC/CBS Studios, and The Darkness for Iceland’s Síminn/CBS Studios from director Lasse Hallström.
Giddings has produced The Movers, Banshee Chapter, and Flypaper, among others, and is CEO and producer at G4C Innovation. She co-founded Entertainment Capital Network and got her start at Metropolitan Filmexport, working on films like Domino, Silent Hill, the Resident Evil franchise, and The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus.
Stampede Ventures was co-founded to establish franchises across film, television, and digital by media veterans Silverman, Gideon Yu (co-chairman) and Jaeson Ma. The company has more than 150 projects in development or set up in Hollywood. Credits include Lionsgate’s Ordinary Angels starring Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson, Amazon’s Space Cadet starring Emma Roberts, and upcoming features K-POPS from Anderson Paak., and The Dead Of Winter starring Emma Thompson.
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