Sean Durkin, A24 to Adapt Chad Harbach Novel ‘The Art of Fielding’ and Its Sequel ‘The Brightness’ for TV (Exclusive)

A24 has optioned the TV rights for Chad Harbach bestselling-novel The Art of Fielding and its sequel, The Brightness, which comes out today. Sean Durkin (producer of A24’s Von Erichs biopic The Iron Claw) will showrun and direct the series, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The show will be produced by Westward (House of Cards, Severance). Durkin and Harbach will executive produce the television series alongside Jordan Tappis and Beau Willimon, the co-founders of Westward.

A24 is behind TV series like Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Beef, Euphoria, John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch and Peacock’s new Friday the 13th prequel, Crystal Lake. Recent A24 theatrical releases include Nathan Fielder’s You Can See Everything, Primetime, Backrooms, Marty Supreme and The Smashing Machine, which starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as mixed martial arts and early-UFC fighter Mark Kerr.

Both The Art of Fielding and The Brightness celebrate stories about friendships formed at (the fictional) Westish College. The first book, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and “well over half a million” copies (or so we are told) focused on the college’s baseball team. The sequel, published by Little, Brown and Company, follows “a band of artistic young women, some of whom pull a feminist prank that becomes a flashpoint in the nation’s culture wars.”

Harbach, a Wisconsin (where Westish is located) native, attended Harvard and the University of Virginia. He’s a founder of n+1, a New York–based American literary magazine that publishes social criticism, political commentary, essays, art, poetry, book reviews and short fiction. Each of its three print issues per year are around 200 pages long. Articles are regularly published online.

Durkin is represented by UTA and Entertainment 360. Harbach is represented by Chris Parris-Lamb at The Gernert Company and WME. Westward is represented by WME and Lenore Entertainment.