So Yesterday, the Movie

The contracts for the So Yesterday movie option are finally signed!

Phew. That took a while.

Now, a quick note about options: This doesn’t mean that the movie will be made! It just means that a production company has paid me for the exclusive right to make a film. So do not send your acting resumes to me yet. (Or ever. Because like, why would you send them to me?) Still, it does get us one step closer.

Now that the contracts are signed, I can finally tell you who the producers are. But first:

You may remember a long-ago contest where I promised glorious prizes to anyone who could guess the book and the producer. Well, nobody got both exactly right, but Corn on the Cob almost got one of the producers correctly, which I didn’t think would happen at all.

Corn wrote: “Okay my second guess is a documentary type thing of the Uglies/Pretties book by Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 911, Bowling for Columbine).”

How random was that guess?

Okay, so it wasn’t Uglies, and it’s not Michael Moore. But it is one of the other producers of Fahrenheit and Columbine, a guy called Jim Czarnecki. Two decades ago, he also worked as an assistant director on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, to which I can only say: “Dude, we’re not worthy.”

On So Yesterday he’ll be working with Maria Gallagher. Maria is the author of the Stinky Boys Club books, and has produced a lot of advertising and a Madonna video. Actually, both Maria and Jim come from the world of slick, high-end advertising satirized in So Yesterday.

Back in November, I met with them to talk about how to make So Yesterday a movie, and I think they and their ideas are very cool. They want to render the book’s info-dumps in visual form, and put the critique of advertising and marketing onto the screen, somehow. It’s going to be exciting to see how it all comes out.

So Corn in the Cob, email me about receiving your fabulous prize. You didn’t get it exactly right, but I didn’t think anyone would get even remotely close. So color me w00t! (And wish Maria and Jim luck.)

This just in! Justine’s Magic or Madness has been nominated for the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards Ethel Turner Prize!

Read about it here.

83 thoughts on “So Yesterday, the Movie

  1. that’s awesome, congrats on finally getting the movie contracts signed. I would be really cool if “so yesterday” was make into a movie. But i do think “uglies” and “pretties” would make for even more interesting movies.

    Also congrats to Justine for having “magic or madness” nominated.

  2. Congratulations on the possibility of a So Yesterday film.

    I’m still faithfully spreading the word (and poking and prodding Anali to read Pretties). Earlier this week, it was decreed by my school’s book discussion group (on my suggestion) that we will be reading and discussing Uglies.

    Anyone who reads this comment: got any ideas for probing discussion questions?

  3. Excellent! I’m glad that they want to keep the info dumps and marketing critique in, because that was what I liked most about the book.

  4. Belinda, not that i dont wish that they were making Uglies movies too, but imagine how hard that would be! Who would play the pretties? cause in the book they talk about how terrifiying the models from the rusty period are, so our models are out of the casting call. Who would play them? so i can see why they wouldnt want to make that movie. o well.. But im totally psyched at the possibility of a So Yesterday movie! that is going to rock soooo hard! And total props to Justine! Congrats to all!

  5. Korbe, i understand your point…but then again if you look at today’s models they really are quite….terrifying at least most are….too skinny and trying too hard to be pretty. but there are some natural beauties out there. i admit casting would be pretty difficult but i believe it would be possible. Just the Idea of it is exciting. But i do hope to see So yesterdays as a movie.

  6. That would be so cool, but so much of the goodness of So Yesterday (besides the plot and the characters and everything) is how the book is written. It would be great to have a movie that was able to carry Scotts’ writing voice and not have constant voiceovers. One thing about books-turned-movies that always annoys me: movies take away from the expiriance of being inside someone elses head. You turn from knowing the character to just becoming a bystander.

    But I still hope the movie gets made.

  7. I agree ambereyes, I hate it when movies destroy the expeirience of reading a book! Of course without the movies I wouldnt have ended up reading harry potter. O well. I just hope they do a good job, cause then i will not have to kill anyone….just kidding! later

  8. i agree, alot is lost when a book is made into a movie. and Korbe with the harry potter thing, the last movie lost alot compared to the book. the book had so much more detail and explaination. I really hope that doesn’t happen with “so yesterday” or any of the other books that might be made into movies in the future. I would much prefer a book over a movie for that same reason, you can explain and explore your imagination so much better in words. also his writing style is amazing and that wouldn’t be able to come through in a movie…so i definitely agree with the both of you:)

  9. Scott, will u have a say in directing? do you know what u should do? you should send the script writers to the blog, we will show them a thing or two! that movie will rock everyones socks off! that would be totally bubbly! (sorry wrong book, lol) ^.^

  10. AHHH now i’ve REALLY got to read SO Yesterday,-_-.i dont kno why i havent yet i just havent

    OH ya Korbe and Belinda i TOTALLY agree about the movie thing movies ruin so many good books, I’ve all the harry Potter books MANY many times and went to see the moves bu the entire time i couldnt stop picking at them, noticing the places they messed up and the stuff that was missing. the fourth movei was pretty good, or so i thought until i talked to mom (who hasnt read the books) and she wasnt able to follow it, once i thought about it i realized they just jumped from one BIG event to the next without bothering with the little details that turn out to be significant. and the only reason i could follow it was because i had read the books

    I really hope that doesnt happent to Scott’s book

  11. The book is always better, actually it’s pretty much whichever one came out first… which is almost always the book… Any news on a possible Midnighters TV show? Then my friends can actually understand what the book is about, not just open it up and read a not-so-typical kissing scene, then meet me when I come out of the bathroom w/ bewildered expressions!

  12. I remember in 4th grade i read a book called “stone fox” then saw the movies in class, and i was so totally disappointed because the movies was nothing like the book at all. since then i would much rather read the book then see the movie.

  13. Congrats on the possable movie! After reading midnighters I picked up so yesterday and I absolutly loved it. The world of comsumerism and advertising is an issue most people don’t think about. It gets you thinking about all those advertising tricks the companies use to get us to buy their product. When was the last time that hamburger on the ad looked as good as the real thing? Yet, we still buy it. They trick, lie, and minipulate us just to make a buck. I have to say that like in the book, a group of people will try to change the orignal idea to fit their needs. Don’t let them cut and paste parts of the book to create something diffrent. One of the points in so yesterday was keeping true to the orignal idea. So yesterday doesn’t deserve to be molded into something diffrent. Don’t let it happen Scott.

  14. This is tres exciting!!
    But I agree with all the above with the whole “book is always better than movie thing”.
    But still.
    Though, I’d die to see a movie version of “Uglies”,
    I can just picture that in my little head.
    Anways, congrats & I hope everything goes well!

    PS. happy easter!

  15. Movie movie movie movie!!! This is awesome. They better make it. Sometimes movies don’t disappoint. It’s a matter of opinion. Although I agree, you lose some of that “being inside the MC’s head” bit. Buuuut, you’ll never know till you try. 🙂

  16. well, keep in mind harry potter are like huge books and really, are made to be watched by people who have read them. So yesterday isn’t quite as long and so hopefully wouldn’t be cut on details. we shall see.

  17. I think it’s always best to see the movie first. Then you can see how much BETTER the book is, and you enjoy it all the more. ((That right?))

  18. Watching the movie first is baaaad. You know what’s gonna happen, when you could be held up by the suspence of the book. And if you were always going to watch the movie first, How many books would you read?

  19. Peeps would be the best movie.. Like, what other people were saying, where would you get the actors for pretties?

  20. I hope that if and when they make the movie they get the shoe right. It has to be the ultimate shoe. I have no idea what that would look like. I hope they do.

  21. Hmm… May 9th that’s coming up… this time I am getting it the day it comes out! Actually all my projects and deadlines are just before then, so it will be a nice way to relax after that… btw I finished Midnighters, I loved it. Now, I’m going to go check out that spoiler thread you had a while back…

  22. Ahhh, the Shoe. That would be insanely fun to design. The ultimate shoe… I’m not even a shoe person, but I want the Shoe

  23. ME TOO!!!!! that would totally rock. I want the shoe sooo bad! lol. But i really want to see this movie, i will be dissapointed if its not as good as the book, but come on! its So Yesterday, by Scott Westerfeld! Of course im going to see it and be happy. Because I will know that he wrote it, and that i love the story, and though it may not be as good as my mind made it, it will be interesting to see what the film makers come up with, They are pretty good at what they do after all. So yea, im going to go now, but this is totally bubbly making!

  24. Ooooh, I’m EXCITED!!! Usually when I’m excited for something I make an old-school paper link chain counting down the days until that happens… Buts seeing as how the movie doesn’t actually have a script yet, I don’t think that’ll work.

    As for the Shoe (that’s Shoe with a capital S)… Will that really work? I always thought you never really describe the Shoe in detail in the book because we were supposed to figure out what “cool” meant to us, without other people telling us what is cool. So if they show us the Shoe, wouldn’t that sorta be the opposite effect? Or maybe that could just not show the Shoe at all. Or maybe I’m just rambling senselessly now, that could also be entirely possible.

  25. Oh this is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo awsome just 1 question what about the whole midnighters being turned into a tv series i haven’t seen anything about that but i might not be looking close enough

  26. i’m excited. but i know that this will take FOREVER-if at all. b/c thet do the casting, then filming, then editing, and alot more in between. and the worst thing is that when you are wiating for somthing, it takes ALOT longer to come.

    and yeah… is there going to be a midnighters series?

  27. “I hope that if and when they make the movie they get the shoe right. It has to be the ultimate shoe. I have no idea what that would look like. I hope they do.”

    Hm…maybe they shouldn’t actually show it…The ultimate shoe would be pretty hard to make, ‘specially to boot-wearers, such as myself.
    And you have the same name as my favorite guitarist. Is your last name Puget? Hahaha. 😛

    …If you can help it Scott, please don’t let them soil it by using really bad actors/actresses…which is almost all the really famous ones. That would make me sad…

  28. You don’t like famouse actor/acresses? Heheheh…
    Hilary Duff as Jen. Nuff said. God, how I abhore that girl.

  29. I was thinking out what Uglies would be like if it were a movie @_@
    then Pretties would be even harder…. and Specials O_O

    I think that they would ruin Uglies because of the way it’s set, plus actors and graphics have their limits. The authors should be the directors and make them all EXACTLY the way they pictured it.

    I wonder if it’s even possible to do that… but then Scott’s books would be the BEST MOVIES ON THE face OF THE EARTH!….Scott do any of your fans ever creep you out?? ((points to self)) I’ll have to not do that ever again XD

    Anyways…So Yesterday sounds like it would be an awesome movie! I was SUPPOSED to go get the book Friday, but I was pushed to Saturday, and now it’s Easter and everything is closed!

    I WILL get it and I WILL read it and I will love it!

  30. I really hope they do a good job with the movie and don’t botch it, like producers sometimes do. I’m looking forward to it!

  31. I really hope that was a joke ambereyes, Hillary Duff? that would make me cry. That is not even a funny joke. I have nothing against the girl, but as Jen? No way. lol.

  32. DOn’t worry. I was joking. Or scaring. Or whatever. I hate Hilary Duff. She can’t act, but it would be funny to see her with a buzz cut.

  33. Someone said this a long time ago, but I think Sarah Silverman would be a good Mandy. And, I hope no one hates me for this, but Amber Tamblyn would be a good Jen.

  34. I like Amber Tamblyn. She’s not exactly a celebrity, but she’s fairly well-known. Wait, wasn’t Sarah Silverman in Rent?

  35. I totally agree with the Sarah Silverman comment, but im not so sure about Amber Tamblyn..She is a good actress and everything, but i dont think she could pull of the roll of inovator..but that is just me..o well *sigh* its not up to us anyways, unfortunatly

  36. hmm, everyone is so opinionated on this! i think that would rock, a So Yesterday movie!!! very exciting stuff, something worth watching.
    i CANNOT believe people watch HP before reading it! Well, I can, but it’s so wrong!!! The books are way better, and have this charming humour with it. Unless you think Daniel Radcliffe is hot or something, which I also don’t get…
    dude.

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