EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off the back of the critical success of the BBC’s What it Feels Like for a Girl, Hera Pictures has optioned Nothing Good Happens After 2am, a novel about London’s cutthroat world of high-end cocktail making.
Set to be adapted for TV, Nothing Good Happens After 2am is Irish author Niamh Hargan’s third novel and begins behind the unmarked door of speakeasy Love and Death, tucked away in East London. There, rising stars Robbie Saunders and El Tippett are locked in a volatile dance of rivalry and chemistry, fighting for the approval of their enigmatic boss, Otto Kettinger. As the bar’s legend grows, their relationship begins to fray.
Hera said the novel, which will publish next January, was won “in a fiercely competitive bidding war.” Conversations are already underway with “top-tier screenwriters,” the indie added.
Based on Paris Lees’ coming-of-age memoir, Hera’s What It Feels Like for a Girl launched on BBC Three earlier this month to critical acclaim. The indie is also working on Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, and The Return of Stanley Atwell with Marisa Abela and Nicholas Galitzine. In TV, it optioned Joanna Quinn’s The Whalebone Theatre last year.
Hera founder Liza Marshall said: “From its first page, Nothing Good Happens After 2am had us completely hooked — it’s sharp, sexy, and brimming with atmosphere. Niamh has created a world that feels both thrillingly glamorous and emotionally raw, with characters who ache with ambition, desire, and heartbreak. It’s exactly the kind of bold, stylish storytelling we love at Hera, and we’re thrilled to bring it to the screen.”
Hargan’s previous novels are Twelve Days in May and The Break-Up Clause. Her film and television Rights are handled by Anna Weguelin and Gemma Craig on behalf of Sheila Crowley and Sabhbh Curran at Curtis Brown.
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