On today’s episode of the Daily Variety podcast, Variety’s Jennifer Mars reports on Bookcon’s return to New York and the rise of a new generation of romance novels (like Rivals) as a creative force in Hollywood. And the entertainment industry is eager to get to know John Tarnas, who will replace Tim Cook as Apple CEO in September.
News of Apple’s successor surprised Hollywood and the rest of the business world on Monday. The big question that arose in the industry was: Is Tarnus watching “The Studio”? Honestly, I have deep doubts about how Ternus feels about Apple entering the world of traditional TV and film production. Next year marks 10 years since Apple made a serious move into entertainment by hiring former Sony TV leaders Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg to lead Apple Worldwide Video.
Mars, Variety’s senior business writer for TV and video games, details his journey this past weekend through the heart of BookCon, a publishing-focused event held at New York’s Jacob Javits Convention Center. This was the first BookCon held since 2019, and the event reflected a resurgence of interest in books and reading since the pandemic. Also introduced was the notable genre of “romantic fiction.” This work is a fusion of romance and fantasy, and is especially popular among women.
The event also showcased that the pipeline between publishers and producers is getting stronger and stronger as Hollywood scoops up hot books faster than ever. The HBO Max drama series “Heated Rivalry” came out of nowhere last year.
“Rivals creator Rachel Reid was also there, and she sat on a panel with showrunner Jacob Tierney to talk about her love of hockey romance,” Mars says. “And they were actually the opening panel on Saturday, so it shows you how much of a priority it is and what Hollywood’s appetite is. And then there was a big closing panel on the main stage on Sunday, where Andy Weir and other authors talked about their books and screened their work, including (Weir’s) ‘Project Hail Mary,’ which is the current blockbuster movie.”
(Photo: Rachel Reid, author of “Heated Rivals”)
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