Three years ago, T.J. Newman was handing out peanuts and pouring drinks for airplane passengers. Last month, she was hustling between Zoom calls with Nicole Kidman and Jerry Bruckheimer as they tried to outbid each other for the rights to “Drowning,” her upcoming novel about a jetliner that crashes into the ocean. It’s all part of an improbable Cinderella story that’s taken Newman, a flight attendant-turned-bestselling writer, from manning first-class cabins to becoming one of Hollywood’s most in-demand talents.
Newman admits she still hasn’t accepted her change in fortunes. “Any time I board a plane, I still want to get up and collect trash or help someone put their bag in an overhead bin,” she says. “I have to remind myself: You can sit and order a drink instead of serving it.”
These days, she can spring for Champagne. Landing the movie rights to “Drowning” triggered an all-out bidding war, one that drew interest from the likes of Kidman, Alfonso Cuarón and Steven Spielberg, along with seven-figure offers from Apple and Bruckheimer, Paramount and Damien Chazelle, Legendary, Universal Television, and Warner Bros.
“There was an eight-hour period where I never hung up my phone,” says Shane Salerno, Newman’s agent. “People would call my landline, and I’d put them on mute while I answered a call from another bidder on my cellphone. I’d get an offer and before we had a chance to counter, they’d text me and raise it.”
For Newman, the adulation had its share of unexpected hurdles. “Shane would call and say we need to get on a Zoom with Nicole Kidman in 15 minutes, and I’d go, ‘Oh, my God, I have to wash my hair.’” It also meant confessing to Bruckheimer, the producer of “Top Gun: Maverick,” that she caught the Tom Cruise sequel in theaters eight times.
“I saw it with my friends on opening night, went out to dinner and then went back and saw it a second time because I loved it so much,” she says.
Yet it was Warner Bros. andnot Bruckheimer who prevailed after agreeing to pay $1.5 million for the rights and an additional $1.5 million on the first day of production. The studio also brought the “Drowning” author on as an executive producer.
Most writers wait a lifetime to get that kind of payday. But what’s extraordinary is that it’s the second time in two years that Newman has been the center of a fevered auction. “Falling,” her debut novel about a pilot pressured to crash his plane after his family is kidnapped by terrorists, sold to Universal Pictures for $1.5million. That was after more than a dozen producers and studios submitted bids, including “Fast and Furious” producer Neal Moritz, “Ozark” creator Jason Bateman and “The Batman” director Matt Reeves. As part of that deal, Newman is writing the screenplay. It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago, in the first flush of success from robust sales for “Falling,” that Newman’s mother was convinced her daughter shouldn’t quit her day job and risk losing her perk of flying for free.
“You never know with this entertainment stuff,” she warned. But after “Falling” sold its movie rights, her mom relented and agreed that Newman should devote herself full time to her new career.
Even as Newman enjoys her financial freedom, she remembers the rejection she faced. Before becoming a flight attendant, she tried to make it as an actress in New York. But that dream didn’t pan out, forcing her to move back to her parents’ home.
“I’m an overnight success story if overnight takes two decades,” she says.
And when she got more invested in her writing, penning her first novel on red-eye flights as passengers slept, she grappled with the indifference of publishers. By the time she submitted the manuscript for “Falling” to Salerno’s The Story Factory, Newman had been turned down by more than 40 companies. She had reached the fuck-it phase and included a handwritten note that caught Salerno’s attention with its brashness. She told him her book would be a best-seller, and she hoped he’d be smart enough to see it.
“I had nothing left to lose,” she admits. “It was a Hail Mary pass.”
