Lionsgate Adapts 'Hatching Twitter' Book For TV

Twitter’s plot to dominate social chatter around TV has a new twist -- a television series in the works based on Nick Bilton’s bestselling book “Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship and Betrayal.”
 
Lionsgate Television on Wednesday announced it has optioned the rights to the tell-all book and tapped “Hunger Games” producer Allison Sheamur to work on the project. New York Times columnist and reporter Bilton will write the screenplay and serve as a producer for the show, the studio said.
 
“I’m going to Hollywood! Well, “Hatching Twitter” is…Lionsgate to begin TV development of my book,” Bilton tweeted in connection with the news.
 
“Hatching Twitter” tells the inside story of the forming of the microblogging service that became a cultural phenomenon and launched a $2 billion initial public offering last month. The book details the power struggles and infighting among founders Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Noah Glass and Biz Stone.
 
“Nick’s book has all the elements of a great drama with its complex characters, high-stakes power struggles and betrayed friendships, and we’re extremely fortunate to have Alli Shearmur onboard as executive producer,” stated Kevin Beggs, chairman of Lionsgate Television Group.
 
Shearmur cited “The Social Network,” the film about Facebook’s founding, as an analogous adaptation, but said the TV series based on “Hatching Twitter” would provide a longer view of the “life changes, gamesmanship and personal sacrifices made by a group of individuals who are building a company that will change the way that people communicate.”
 
Lionsgate has previously found box-office success with book adaptations of the “Hunger Games” and “Twilight” franchises. It produced the original TV series “Orange is the New Black,” which debuted earlier this year on Netflix.
 
No word on who might play any of the principal characters in “Hatching Twitter.”
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