ReelShort to Adapt Tessa Bailey’s Big Shot Series | Exclusive

ReelShort inked a collaboration with viral romance author Tessa Bailey to adapt two of her novels from the Big Shot series, TheWrap has exclusively learned. The microdramas platform will produce vertical adaptations of “Fangirl Down” and “The Au Pair Affair.” The partnership marks a shift in ReelShort’s strategy by investing into licensing titles. The partnership will be Bailey’s first vertical adaptations but not her first adaptation overall. The film adaptation of one of her bestsellers “It Happened One Summer” just wrapped production this fall, starring Nina Dobrev and Tyler Hoechlin. As opposed to licensing in the traditional film and television world, Bailey applauded the verticals industry for its speed. The platform began conversations with the author earlier this year and are going into production on the both adaptations for her project Monday. She noted that the verticals production cycle matches romance readers’ voracity for storytelling. “When they came to me and they said this is going to be really quick, my first thought was this is going to be a big deal,” Bailey told TheWrap. “We are instant gratification people, romance readers. We read six to seven books a week, and I thought, wow, if they’re able to do this so quickly, this is going to get bigger.” Bailey knew she was getting in on the ground floor of these vertical adaptations. ReelShort has licensed a couple of titles from traditional authors — including Sierra Simone’s bestselling Lyonesse trilogy — but most of its content has been adapted from web novels or translated from popular titles that originated in China. Bailey said that licensing the Big Shot series was a risk she was willing to take. ReelShort came to the author specifically interested in the sports romance series as that genre has performed consistently for them. ReelShort licensed “The Au Pair Affair,” which follows a marine biology graduate student as she takes a job as a live-in au pair for a stern but tenderhearted single father and pro hockey enforcer, only to find herself falling for her boss, and “Fangirl Down,” which follows a struggling professional golfer who hires his last remaining fan to help revive his career. “What we can guarantee [authors] is, once we option your IP, it’s not going to be in the library forever,” Bofan Zhang, ReelShort senior executive producer, said. “We can actually make it, and we can see the product within, let’s say, six months.” “Let’s say somebody does want to adapt ‘Fangirl Down.’ That might take four or five years … are people going to even be interested in it then?” Bailey said. “It does make more sense to just do this now while this medium is sort of gaining speed.” Molly Cusick, director of licensing at Crazy Maple Studio, said that one author ReelShort previously worked with on an adaptation saw her book sales increase eightfold month over month after the series was released. Cusick said ReelShort partners with romance authors because their high-stakes content and twisty turns often match the style romance readers are accustomed to. “So many things get optioned; very few things ever get made. And I think that what ReelShort’s done is kind of democratized that process a little bit,” Cusick said. “ReelShort has 70 million eyeballs to offer authors, and there isn’t really a ton of overlap between the BookTok community and the vertical drama community,” she added. Bailey worked closely with the ReelShort producers and screenwriting team in the adaptation stage. She even played a role in the casting, suggesting that the leading men be swapped from “Fangirl Down” and “The Au Pair Affair.” ReelShort will debut a preview of the adaptions at The Telly Awards Nov. 10. A release date has not yet been set for the Bailey adaptations, but they will likely come out on the platform early next year.