Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Yellow Bird, which turned Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy into three hit Swedish films that began with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, is expanding its scope from Scandinavian crime films to international properties. It has acquired rights to international best-selling author Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent book series. This one takes place in Atlanta.

Yellow Bird will produce three television films based on the book series. They begin with Triptych, the first novel in the series of books featuring Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent Will Trent, his partner Faith Mitchell and their legendary boss Amanda Wagner. Slaughter will write the first script.

Financing is being arranged out of Europe, and the films will shoot on location in Atlanta. Yellow Bird’s Berna Levin and Marianne Gray will produce, with Slaughter executive producing. Ole Sondberg and Anni Furbye Fernandez will also executive produce.

Aside from producing the Swedish-language Millennium Trilogy and joining with Scott Rudin to produce the David Fincher-directed Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Yellow Bird also produced the Morten Tyldum-directed Headhunters and BBC’s Wallander series starring Kenneth Branagh.

Yellow Bird is represented by UTA and attorney Linda Lichter. Slaughter is represented by Cheng Caplan Company on behalf of Victoria Sanders & Associates.