Italy’s Leone Film Group has teamed up with Wattpad, the user-generated fiction entertainment company, to develop a feature film based on “The Bad Boy’s Girl,” which is among the most popular stories on the storytelling platform.
Leone Film Group, a leading Italian production and distribution company, has also optioned the full series of novels in author Blair Holden’s “The Bad Boy’s Girl” saga, which is touted as having more than 220 million online reads, with plans to turn it into a teen romance film franchise.
The story of “The Bad Boy’s Girl” revolves around protagonist Tessa O’Connell, who has only two goals for senior year: to keep her head down, and to get over the heartbreak of seeing her longtime crush date her ex-best friend, according to promotional materials.
“But Tessa fears the worst when her childhood bully, Cole, returns to town from military school. To her surprise, Cole’s not back to taunt her, in fact, he might just be the one good thing to come out of this year as an unlikely connection ignites with the potential to transform them both,” the provided synopsis reads.
Leone Film Group’s Raffaella Leone, Andrea Leone, Carlo Salem and Federico Polimanti will executive produce, alongside Wattpad’s Aron Levitz, Eric Lehrman and Lindsey Ramey. Blair Holden is represented by Alexander Slater and Erica Silverman at Trident Media Group and UTA.
Wattpad, Los Angeles-based Voltage Pictures and Leone Film Group previously collaborated on the hit Wattpad-story-turned-film-franchise “After,” and its sequel “After We Collided,” which Leone distributed in Italy, where they both scored stellar box office returns. The “After” now has six films in total, with the series’ third and fourth films currently in post, and two additional films being developed.
“We are really excited about this new partnership with Wattpad,” Leone Film Group CEO Raffaella Leone (pictured) said in a statement.
“Building on the success of the ‘After’ movies, we have decided to devote part of our international production line up to projects envisioned and created with an audience of young adults in mind,” she added.
“The Bad Boy’s Girl” saga will follow after Leone Film Group’s romancer“Time Is Up,” pairingBella Thorne with Italian popstar Benjamin Mascolo, directed by Elisa Amoruso.
“’The Bad Boy’s Girl’ has captivated audiences around the world, making it one of the most popular and successful stories on Wattpad,” said Aron Levitz, head of Toronto-based Wattpad Studios. “We’re thrilled to work with Leone Film Group to bring this hit franchise to screens and new fans everywhere.”
“The Bad Boy’s Girl” joins more than 90 film and TV projects in development from Wattpad all over the worldincluding Jessica Cunsolo’s “She’s With Me,” set up as a series with Sony Pictures Television; DeAnna Cameron’s “What Happened That Night,” which is being adapted by Oscar-nominated “Children of Men” screenwriter David Arata; T.L. Bodine’s “The Hound,” which is being scripted by Angela LaManna (Netflix’s “The Haunting of Bly Manor”).
