EXCLUSIVE: Vivek Tiwary, whose credits include producing Broadway musicals The Addams Family, American Idiot, The Producers and Young Frankenstein, has come aboard as exclusive producer to adapt Jimmy Gownley’s graphic novel series for TV and film. The one-time music industry exec plans to secure the involvement of musicians in acting roles as well as musical composition and will begin shopping the project to studios and networks in the coming months. Published by Simon & Schuster, Amelia Rules! is an eight-volume series for that follows tween Amelia McBride as she navigates through a new town, a new school and the everyday trials of adolescence, with help along the way from her ex-rock star aunt and a group of odd-ball cohorts. The final installment of the series, published this year, was a New York Times bestseller. “Jimmy and Amelia Rules! have been rightfully compared to Charles M. Schulz and Peanuts — and I believe Amelia and her crew will go on to be as beloved and influential as Charlie Brown and his gang, albeit in a more contemporary way”, Tiwary said.

Tiwary, repped by Circle of Confusion, wrote and is producing a graphic novel and feature film The Fifth Beatle, about Beatles manager Brian Epstein; the movie is set to begin production next year. Gownley is repped by CAA.