Isabela Merced and Christopher Briney star in “Influencer,” an Audible original YA psychological thriller about a murderous social-media personality.
“Influencer,” which premieres Nov. 2 (available at this link), is the first audio project under a multi-project deal Audible inked with production house Temple Hill Entertainment, whose films have included the Twilight Saga, the Maze Runner Trilogy, “The Fault in Our Stars” and horror hit “Smile.”
In the “Influencer” audiobook, Briney (“The Summer I Turned Pretty,” Paramount’s upcoming “Mean Girls” musical) plays a social influencer who starts a murderous cult at his high school — and Merced (“Sweet Girl,” “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” the upcoming “Superman: Legacy”) is the one girl who sees through him. “Influencer” is written by author Adam Cesare (“Clown in a Cornfield” series, “Dead Mall”), a Bram Stoker Awards literary-horror winner.
Audible includes a viewer-discretion warning for “Influencer,” noting that it “contains graphic violence and themes of drug addiction and sexual assault.”
Another project currently in development under the Audible-Temple Hill pact is “Dragon Day,” by Bob Proehl and starring Hayley Atwell (“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”). “Dragon Day” is a fictional oral history set in modern times about the day dragons took over Earth and a journalist covering the events who finds previously obscured details as well as an unexpected hope for human kind.
Under the deal, head of Temple Hill Publishing Petersen Harris and VP of publishing Alli Dyer will work with Audible to produce a slate of exclusive audio originals. Temple Hill is represented by UTA, which brokered the multi-project deal with Audible.
Temple Hill founders Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey said in a statement: “Temple Hill strives to produce the best in high-stakes creative entertainment. We are excited to bring listeners an immersive experience with our first project, ‘Influencer,’ and look forward to making more heart-pounding original content with Audible, collaborators who welcome boundary pushing, experimental storytelling.”
“Temple Hill has impeccable taste and an undeniable track record of connecting with audiences around the world,” Audible chief content officer Rachel Ghiazza said. “‘Influencer’ is the kind of bold storytelling you’d expect from the company behind so many classics in this space.”
In addition to Temple Hill’s development deal with Audible, the production company has a multiyear first-look film deal with Paramount Pictures and in TV with Lionsgate.
Amazon’s Audible has struck numerous other production and development deals with partners. Those include pacts with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground, Viola Davis’ Ashé Audio Ventures, George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, Kerry Washington’s Simpson Street, Lena Waithe and Rishi Rajani’s Hillman Grad Productions, Daniel Dae Kim’s 3AD Productions, and Queen Latifah and Shakim Compere’s Flavor Unit.
