Lost Girl executive producer Emily Andras has a new assignment.
She’s been tapped by Omnifilm Entertainment to adapt the latest book trilogy by best-selling author Nora Roberts and showrun a new TV drama structured as an Ireland-Canada coproduction.
“Emily as a writer is well known for injecting her own sense of adventure and adding new twists and turns,” Omnifilm partner and executive producer Brian Hamilton told Playback Daily about Andras adapting the trilogy of Dark Witch, Shadow Spell and Blood Magick novels into a supernatural drama to be called Blood Magick.
The series begins as American-born Iona Sheehan arrives in Ireland, where her ancestorsʼ blood and magic have flowed through generations, and where her destiny awaits.
She tracks down her cousins, Branna and Connor OʼDwyer, and since family is family, they invite her into their home and soon she joins their mission to defeat Cabhan.
The project comes as Omnifilm ramps up its scripted series production arm by hiring Paulo de Oliveira as its SVP of scripted programming and executive producer, based in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“There’s a lot of rich material in the Blood Magick series and there are several ways that that story can be told,” de Oliveira said of Andras as she gets set to turn the book trilogy into a TV drama with worldwide appeal.
All three books in the Cousins OʼDwyer trilogy debuted atop the paperback and e-book categories on the New York Times bestseller list.
“Iʼm very excited to bring Blood Magick to series television,” said Andras in a statement. “These characters are so passionate in their fight to protect their home and each other, itʼs easy to be drawn into their dangerous quest.”
Andras is represented by Toronto- and California-based The Jeff Alpern Group.
de Oliveira completed earlier executive stints in scripted development and production for HBO, Disney, and NBC Universal, where he worked on shows including Monk, Psych, Battlestar Galactica and Eureka.
He was recently co-executive producer on Starzʼ Outlander epic series.
Omnifilm has also inked a representation deal with Los Angeles-based Anonymous Content.
Omnifilmʼs current slate of scripted programming also includes Pacific Spirit, a multi-generational family drama in development with CBC and set in Vancouver. Susin Nielsen (Cedar Cove, Heartland) is the showrunner and series creator.
The indie is also at work on Lovejoy, a mystery series in development with the BBC, and produced in partnership with U.K.-based Red Planet Pictures. Tony Jordan is writing the pilot script.