Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Nabs Rights to Dystopian Thriller ‘I Alone Survive’

By Leo Barraclough

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Ridley Scott’s Scott Free has nabbed the screen rights to dystopian thriller “I Alone Survive” after a three-way auction, Variety has confirmed.

Bethany Clift’s comedic debut novel centers on a woman in her mid-thirties who has spent her life pretending to be what other people want her to be. When she becomes the sole survivor of a global pandemic, she has to learn to lead an independent life, free from other people’s rules.

Marina Brackenbury, head of TV and film at in London, acquired the rights from literary agent Cara Lee Simpson at Jonathan Clowes.

“I was instantly struck by the distinctive tone of Bethany’s writing, and I’m determined the TV series lives up to the book in its ability to thoroughly entertain, whilst speaking honestly to a wide range of issues women face that rarely get discussed,” Brackenbury told The Bookseller magazine.

“It’s a perfect fit for us here at Scott Free; combining the ambition to bring refreshing, contemporary portraits to the screen, with the cinematic scale of pieces the company are known for making.”

Hodder & Stoughton took U.K. and Commonwealth publishing rights in a major deal last October, and will publish the book in spring 2021. Publishing rights have also been sold in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden and Spain.

Clift, a graduate of the U.K.’s Northern Film School, produced the low-budget horror film “Heretic.”