On today’s episode of “Daily Variety” podcast, Variety’s Jennifer Maas reports on the return of BookCon to New York and the emergence of a new generation of romance novels — think “Heated Rivalry” — as a creative force in Hollywood. And the entertainment industry is eager to get to know John Ternus, who will succeed Tim Cook as Apple CEO in September.
The Apple succession news caught Hollywood and the rest of the business world by surprise on Monday. The big question that cropped up in the industry was, does Ternus watch “The Studio?” In all seriousness, there are deep questions about how Ternus feels about Apple’s move into the world of traditional TV and film production. Next year marks 10 years since Apple got serious about getting into entertainment with the hiring of former Sony TV leaders Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg as head of Apple Worldwide Video.
Maas, Variety‘s senior business writer for TV and video games, details her trek this past weekend through the heart of BookCon, the publishing-focused event held at Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York. It was the first BookCon held since 2019, and the event reflected the resurgence of interest in books and reading since the pandemic years. It also showcased the red-hot genre of “romantasy fiction.” It’s a blending of romance and fantasy that has been embraced by women in particular.
The event also showcased the increasingly strong pipeline between publishers and producers as Hollywood scoops up buzzy books faster than ever. “Heated Rivalry,” the HBO Max drama series that came out of nowhere last year.
“The author of ‘Heated Rivalry,’ Rachel Reid was there, and she sat on a panel with Jacob Tierney, the showrunner, and they talked about their love of hockey romance,” Maas says. “And they were actually the opening panel on Saturday. So that shows how much it’s being prioritized and what Hollywood’s appetite is. And then the closing big mainstage panel on Sunday featured Andy Weir and other authors talking about their book to screen works including [Weir’s] ‘Project Hail Mary,’ which is a huge movie right now.”
(Pictured: “Heated Rivalry” author Rachel Reid)
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