Amazon Options Kristy Woodson Harvey'sA Happier Lifefor Film Adaptation (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Kristy Woodson Harvey, A Happier Life.Photo:Susan Yates; Courtesy of Gallery Books

Susan Yates; Courtesy of Gallery Books

Kristy Woodson Harvey’sA Happier Lifecould be getting the movie treatment.

PEOPLE can exclusively reveal that Amazon/MGM Studios has optioned the bestselling novel for film, with an award-winning team attached.

Woodson Harvey tells PEOPLE after meeting with Schulman and Kate Roughan from Welle Entertainment last July, she knew they were the “perfect fit” for the project.

She adds that she was beyond impressed with Schulman and Swicord’s respective resumes. After being a fan of Schulman’s No. 1 hit withThe Idea of You, Woodson Harvey says she knew the producer was an expert at “making magic” on screen.

Cathy Schulman at the premiere of “The Idea of You”.Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty

Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty

“The fact that Robin wroteMatildawas so exciting to me because that was my favorite book — and then movie – as a child!” she continues of Roughan’s work on the beloved ’90s film starringMara Wilson, adding that her projects “Practical Magic,Little WomenandThe Curious Case of Benjamin Buttonwere also favorites.”

A Happier Lifewas originally released in June 2024 and tells the dual-timeline stories of a grandmother and granddaughter, one living in 1976 and another in the present day as she returns home to sell her childhood house in Beaufort, N.C. and discovers various secrets about her family.

As a North Carolina native and Beaufort resident herself, Woodson Harvey says it was especially important to find a team who could bring the “nuances of the South” to life in a film adaptation, noting how Swicord is from Columbia, S.C.

While Woodson Harvey points out the film adaptation is still in the very early stages, she adds it would be “amazing” to have the movie film in her own backyard. “It would be so wonderful to share my beloved home state with viewers,” said the summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Courtesy of Gallery Books

As far as potential cast picks, Woodson Harvey admits she hasn’t gotten too far into “dream casting” yet. “I’m so excited to see the story translated to a new medium that I haven’t gotten that far in my ‘dreaming,'" she says. “I think, for me, it’s more about seeing who connects to the material, just as it was with Cathy and Robin.”

In the meantime, Woodson Harvey is keeping busy as she prepares torelease her next novel,Beach House Rules, on May 27. Plus, she’s still actively pitching other books for adaptations, including her popularPeachtree Bluffseries which was previously in development at NBC.

source: people.com