Scots author clinches deal for debut novel to hit the big screen
A SCOTTISH author who shot to fame with her debut novel last year has clinched a deal to see it turned into a major feature film.
Jenni Fagan will work with iconic film-maker Ken Loach’s production company to turn The Panopticon into a screenplay, with filming hoped to be under way by this time next year.
Partly inspired by the Edinburgh author’s experiences of growing up in the Scottish foster care system, the book saw Fagan named one of Britain’s leading young novelists of the decade.
Loach, 77, who will act as executive producer, is best-known for gritty and often harrowing dramas such as Kes, Carla’s Song, Sweet Sixteen, My Name Is Joe and Ae Fond Kiss. He will also be helping Fagan, 36, who now lives in Fife, to develop the storyline and script, while his son, Jim, who made his own film-making debut two years ago, with Oranges and Sunshine, will direct The Panopticon.
The story, set in and around the capital, revolves around 15-yearold Anais Hendricks – who is accused of assaulting a police officer – and her experiences in a young offenders’ institution.
The first draft of the book was penned in the summer of 2010 when Fagan – who had moved 16 times and had three different legal names by age five – was on a creative writing course. She had studied film and television when she was younger and tried her hand as a playwright, but her career had stalled until The Panopticon.
Released last April to rave reviews and lavish praise from authors Irvine Welsh, Ali Smith and Andrew Motion, The Panopticon was named on the “Waterstones 11” hit-list of best debut novels in 2012.
This year, Fagan was the only Scot to be named on Granta’s prestigious once-a-decade Best Young British Novelists list and also made the shortlist for the James Tait Black Prize, Britain’s oldest literary prize, awarded by Edinburgh University, in the summer. Fagan, now a writer in residence at the university, told The Scotsman she had been involved in talks about a film adaptation almost as soon as her book was released. She is working on The Panopticon for Loach’s company while writing her second novel, The Sunlight Pilgrims, set ten years in the future after a flooding disaster hits London.
She said: “There was actually interest from around the world, including the United States, but I felt very strongly that the film had to be made in Scotland.
“The book does mention Edinburgh and it is actually set in Midlothian, and I was brought up in and around the city, which is where it is going to be filmed.
“I was very keen to be involved with the film, so I’ll be doing the story treatment, which is sent to potential funders, and will also be doing the screenplay. I didn’t write the book with a film in mind, but a lot of people have said they could imagine it as a film.
“I’ve not met Ken Loach, but will hopefully be meeting him soon to discuss the script, but I’ve already had a couple of messages from him to say that he loves the book, so it’s very exciting.”
The Panopticon will be the first major film made in Scotland by Loach’s Sixteen Films since the award-winning comedy-drama The Angels’ Share. Its producer, Camilla Bray, said: “It’s all still in the very early stages, but we would hope to start filming towards the end of next year.”
Ali Bowden, director of the Edinburgh Unesco City of Literature Trust, said: “The Panopticon is a stunning, stop-you-in-yourtracks kind of book. It’s incredibly vivid and so perfect for a film adaptation.”