Abbi Jacobson To Adapt Isle McElroy’s ‘People Collide’ With UCP & Killer Films

Peter White
·2 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Abbi Jacobson, co-creator and star of Broad City and A League of Their Own, has found her next project.

Jacobson is adapting Isle McElroy’s book People Collide as a series with UCP and Killer Films. She will serve as writer and showrunner on the project through her Tender Pictures banner.

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People Collide is a gender-bending, body-switching novel that explores marriage, identity, and sex, and raises questions about the nature of true partnership.

The book is centered around Eli and Elizabeth. When Eli leaves the cramped Bulgarian apartment he shares with Elizabeth, his more organized and successful wife, he discovers that he now inhabits her body. Not only have they traded bodies, but Elizabeth, living as Eli, has disappeared without a trace. As Eli comes closer to finding his wife—while learning to exist in her body—he begins to wonder what effect this metamorphosis will have on their relationship and how long he can maintain the illusion of living as someone he isn’t. Will their new marriage wither completely in each other’s bodies? Or is this transformation the very thing Eli and Elizabeth need for their marriage to thrive?

Published by Harpers Collins in September, it was feted as a New York Times Critics pick.

Jacobson is adding the adaptation to her dance card, which also include starring in Netflix’s No Good Deed, created by Liz Feldman and produced by Gloria Sanchez.

It is the latest project for Universal Studio Group’s UCP, which is developing a new take on The Munsters, adapting Elin Hilderbrand’s The Five-Star Weekend for Peacock and has a new Cape Fear series in the works from Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.

Killer Films, which was founded by Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, is behind movies such as May December and Past Lives as well as classics such as Kids and Boys Don’t Cry. On the TV side, it is involved in HBO’s Mildred Pierce and Netflix’s Halston.

“I’ve been a massive fan of Abbi Jacobson’s work for years, and I’m thrilled by her vision for the project,” said McElroy. “I can’t think of a better writer to capture People Collide’s mix of intimacy, drama, and humor. Killer Films has made some of my favorite movies of all time. I deeply admire their commitment to creating unique, unforgettable work. I’m so grateful for the enthusiasm UCP has brought to People Collide. It’s an honor to be working together.”

Jacobson is represented by UTA and Karl Austen and Michael Auerbach at Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime Levine Sample & Klein. McElroy is represented by UTA and Janklow & Nesbit.

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