Young writers are supposed to pay their dues. Meet one exception.
A 15-year-old author who already had a $300,000 book deal is now having a movie made out of her popularity memoir -- and it isn't even out yet!
Maya Van Wagenen struck a pact with DreamWorks to turn her "Popular: Vintage Wisdom For The Modern Geek" memoir into a film, Deadline.com reports. The arrangement made her "the youngest non-actor to ever make a feature deal" at the studio, according to the outlet.
When she was in the eighth grade, Van Wagenen unearthed the 1950s popularity bible "Betty Cornell's Glamour Guide For Teens." She adapted the old-school advice to her own quest to conquer the social scene and kept track of the results.
The book comes out in April, and now Van Wagenen, who lives in Georgia, is on the cusp of conquering Hollywood. Amy B. Harris, executive producer for "The Carrie Diaries," will write the script, Deadline notes.
While so-called option deals, in which studios are given a prescribed time to develop a project, don't always result in a movie, the added publicity certainly won't hurt book sales.
We suspect Van Wagenen doesn't have a popularity problem anymore.