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“You” fans rejoice – the author of the bestselling novels and creator of the fan-favorite serial killer Joe Goldberg is set for an ambitious new series project.
Caroline Kepnes, whose first “You” book was just named
one of the best thrillers of the 21st century by the New York Times, will step behind the camera to write and direct “The Attentionist.” Kepnes will adapt the premium short-form project from her own 2022 short story by the same name, which first appeared in Tor Nightfire’s horror anthology “Dark Stars.”
Set in the ‘90s in a Cape Cod neighborhood where year-round working locals live alongside part-time summer residents, the eight-episode first season follows an awkward 14-year-old named Maeve and her older sister. As the girls ache for a way into the glittering world of the waterfront elite, a secret phone romance with a boy from the local boat club finally makes that dream feel possible. But when the voice on the line begins to reveal something monstrous, Maeve doesn’t hang up, drawing her family deeper into the dark.
Critics called the short “incredibly creepy” and “totally gripping.” The series is set to launch on YouTube as part of a significant slate effort from a media venture to be announced in the coming days.
“Sometimes it feels like a lakeside slasher, and sometimes it feels like a boy-meets-girl oceanside summer romance,” Kepnes told Variety. “I wrote ‘The Attentionist’ as a mashup of genres and being at the helm of the adaptation is quite literally a dream come true. I wanted to combine my love of emotional creepy horror with my affection for small town family drama, and set it in the veiled, insular world of the Cape where I grew up.”
“The Attentionist” is produced by Mark Roberts of Roberts Media (“Meet Me Next Christmas”) and Lorena David (“Strangers with Candy”). The project will shoot on location in Kepnes’ native Cape Cod, and is currently casting key roles.
“During our first scouting trip on the Cape for ‘The Attentionist,’ I found out ‘You’ made the New York Times best thrillers list while at one of my favorite local haunts with the production team. It feels like my mom is looking down on all of it and smiling, my dad too,” said Kepnes, whose late parents Monica and Harold Kepnes were fixtures in the seaside haven. “And this is one of those sick short stories that really disturbed her, so I hope they have YouTube in heaven.”
The production’s creative keys include casting director Joseph Middleton (“Road House,” “Pet Sematary”), cinematographer Michael Lloyd (“Bosco,” “Borderline”), production designer Stephonik (“The Florida Project,” “Red Rocket”) and costume designer Brianna Murphy (“Didi”).
The world of Joe Golberg is encompassed in five books total, and also spawned the five-season Netflix megahit “You” starring Penn Badgley. The latest book, “You First,” was released in June. It tells the origin story of Joe Goldberg as a 17-year-old in post-9/11 New York City. To anchor the novel’s period accuracy, Kepnes drew on her own handwritten coffee shop journals and disposable camera photos from her time living in the West Village.
A graduate of Brown University, Kepnes’ professional background includes serving as a pop culture journalist for Entertainment Weekly and writing for hit television series like “7th Heaven” and “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.” Her psychological depth was further recognized with a Shirley Jackson Award nomination for her short story “Room 24,” published in “The End of the World as We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand.”
