FederationUK today announced that Sarah Phelps is set to adapt Jackie Collins’ New York Times best-seller Lovers & Gamblers as a major new television series.  Phelps will executive produce alongside FederationUK’s Polly Williams and Arielle Gottlieb.

First published in 1977, the novel examines the harrowing void of greed and complex ideas around; self-determination, success, fame, independence and intimacy.  It is a story that lingers, asking questions that demand answers, long after that final page has been sped read.

Sarah Phelps, says, “Lovers & Gamblers is a searing scabrous masterpiece.  It tells a story of roadside zoos, cults, beauty pageants, poverty and exploitation, sex, drugs and rock and roll.  Jackie Collins was ahead of her time, her unflinching eye trained mercilessly on the filthy machinations of politics and power and how the seeds are sown for our own post-truth chaos.  Lovers & Gamblers is about flawed, damaged people who will do anything, absolutely anything to get to the top and asks what the hell happens to you once you’ve got there. It’s dark, it’s shocking, it is brutally, savagely funny but ultimately, it’s a story about redemption and love.”

Polly Williams, Managing Director and Arielle Gottlieb, Creative Director, FederationUK, said: “We both devoured Jackie Collins’s books when we were young women, so when Sarah Phelps told us Lovers & Gamblers was one of her favourite novels, the idea of bringing these two extraordinary female creators together was absolutely thrilling.  It finally feels like it’s the right time for people to take Jackie Collins and women’s popular fiction seriously. We can’t wait for Sarah to breathe fresh life into an extraordinary cast of characters and we can’t think of anyone more perfect than Sarah to show the world how smart, perceptive and still relevant Lovers & Gamblers is.”

Rory Green, Jackie Collins’ daughter added: “When we first met Sarah Phelps my sisters and I were completely blown away by the ferocity of her passion for Lovers & Gamblers, one of our mother’s most epic and exciting sagas. Together with Polly Williams and Arielle Gottlieb at FederationUK, these three formidable women share our vision of taking the Jackie Collins experience from the page to the screen, with all the thrill, fabulousness and forward feminist thinking that epitomizes our mother’s narrative power…”

Executive Produced by Polly Williams and Arielle Gottlieb for FederationUK, the series is based on the book by Jackie Collins, will be written and executive produced by Sarah Phelps and co-produced with eOne.

Pascal Breton and Lionel Uzan’s Federation Entertainment, the production company behind Canal Plus’ cult spy series The Bureau, is extending its reach to the UK. The prolific indie player is partnering with former eOne Head of Scripted UK, Polly Williams and former eOne VP of Scripted UK, Arielle Gottlieb to launch a new London-based production outfit FederationUK.

Williams, who will serve as Managing Director and Gottlieb as Creative Director, will focus on working with premium drama creators to create ambitious English-language content for a global audience. The duo will also aim to bring more female-led content to the Federation slate.

The new venture currently has a slate of high-profile projects in development, which are expected to be announced shortly. The company will develop, produce and invest in drama for TV and film and will offer flexibility for creators beyond the traditional in-house production model.  Beyond its home grown projects, the company is actively eyeing co-productions, co-financing and distribution opportunities.

FederationUK will handle international sales. The Jackie Collins Estate is represented by UTA who negotiated the deal. Sarah Phelps is represented by United.

Lovers & Gamblers was originally published in 1977, and has been published by Simon & Schuster UK since 2012. Jackie Collins is one of the world’s top-selling novelists with over 500 million copies of her books sold in more than forty countries and thirty-two New York Times bestsellers to her credit.

 

ABOUT FEDERATION ENTERTAINMENT

Led by Pascal Breton and Lionel Uzan, Federation heralds a new breed of independent European studios, focusing on the creation, production, financing and distribution of high-quality original productions for the global marketplace.

Federation Entertainment works with the best worldwide talents and partners in the industry to create a strong distribution portfolio as well as an array of premium international productions.  Only eight years after its creation, the production and distribution studio based in Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Madrid, London, Berlin and Tel-Aviv boasts 120 full time employees, a number which continues to grow monthly.

Active in the drama, kids & family, documentary and light entertainment space, Federation works with all platforms and major broadcasters in the market. Its rich portfolio includes major award-winning and international successes such as the cult spy series The Bureau (50 X 52’), the financial thriller Bad Banks (12 x 52’), the Netflix original hit series Baby (now 3 seasons), Find Me In Paris (78 X 26′), the premium live action hit for tweens, Partisan, (6 X 52’), Best series award at CanneSeries 2020, In Treatment, the adaptation of cult format BeTipul by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache for ARTE; as well as Varane, Destin de Champion (Amazon Prime-Video), to name a few. Its latest drama commission Around The World In 80 Days, by Ashley Pharoah and starring David Tennant, Leonie Benesch and Ibrahim Koma, is co-produced by Slim Film + Television and will air on FTV, ZDF and Rai (the Alliance) and BBC and MASTERPIECE (PBS) later in 2021/2022.

 

 ABOUT JACKIE COLLINS

Jackie Collins is one of the world’s top-selling novelists with over 500 million copies of her books sold in more than forty countries and thirty-two New York Times bestsellers to her credit.

Born in London, her first novel, “The World is Full of Married Men” was published in 1968 and established Collins as an author who dared to step where no other female writer had gone before. She followed it year after year with one successful title after another, including “The Stud” and “The Bitch,” both adapted into films in the 1970s starring her actress sister, Joan Collins.

The 1980s saw Jackie finding her stride when she published “Chances,” the first instalment in a sprawling family saga introducing the strong, sexy and powerful Lucky Santangelo. Soon after came the seminal 80s blockbuster, “Hollywood Wives” which was adapted into one of ABCs highest rated mini-series.

The 90s and 2000s saw Jackie on a wild writing streak, satisfying her devoted readers with hit after hit, including “Lady Boss”, “Hollywood Kids”, “Poor Little Bitch Girl” and “The Power Trip” among many others. Jackie was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2013 for her services to literature and charity.

Jackie was a long-time supporter of AIDS Project LA, HIV & AIDS research and equality for the LGBT community. She was widely known for writing characters who reflected a whole spectrum of society. In addition to her long and lustrous career, Jackie valued her family above all else, including her three daughters and six grandchildren.

Jackie died of breast cancer on September 19^th, 2015.

‘Lady Boss: The Jackie Collins Story’, the highly acclaimed and recently released film from Passion Pictures (Academy Award-winning producers of ‘One Day in September’, the BAFTA winning ‘Hillsborough’, and Academy Award and BAFTA-winning ‘Searching for Sugar Man’) charts the untold trail-blazing life of Jackie Collins. The 90 min film directed by Laura Fairrie will transmit on BBC TWO & BBC iplayer October 15^th, 2021.

 

ABOUT SARAH PHELPS

Sarah Phelps is a television, radio and film screenwriter and freelance playwright who has penned over 100 episodes of EastEnders, including, famously, the death of Peggy Mitchell. In 2011 Phelps wrote the screenplay for the BBC’s Christmas costume drama adaptation Great Expectations and the drama series The Crimson Field. In 2015, a television adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy was written by Phelps. In the same year, her adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (2015) starring Aidan Turner, Charles Dance and Miranda Richardson was broadcast on BBC One with ratings of over 8million. Phelps went on to adapt four further Christie classics, including The Witness For The Prosecution (2016) starring Andrea Riseborough, Toby Jones and Billy Howle, Ordeal By Innocence (2018) starring Bill Nighy, Anna Chancellor, Morven Christie and Eleanor Tomlinson, The ABC Murders, (2018) starring John Malkovich and Rupert Grint and The Pale Horse (2020) starring Rufus Sewell, Sean Pertwee and Bertie Carvel. Phelps also wrote Dublin Murders (2019), starring Killian Scott and Sarah Greene for BBC. Her latest work A Very British Scandal (series 2) for BBC and Amazon, starring Claire Foy and Paul Bettany is currently in post-production.