Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley’s Number 9 Films, together with Rachael Horovitz’s West Fourth Films, has acquired the television rights to the memoirs of legendary punk musician Viv Albertine.
Albertine released two memoirs detailing her upbringing in the 1970s and rise in punk music as guitarist for all-girl band The Slits (1977-1982) at the height of the male-dominated punk rock music scene. Albertine was among the first “inner circle” fans of the Sex Pistols and was a close friend of both Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash. In 1976, she helped form The Flowers of Romance with Sid Vicious and Susie Souix.
The first memoir, Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys., was published in 2014 and was a Sunday Times Music, Mojo, Rough Trade and NME book of the year.
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The second, a more personal autobiography delving into her family life and relationships, To Throw Away Unopened, was published in 2018 and was shortlisted for the Costa Book of the Year Awards and longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize.
Number 9 Films’ Karlsen and Woolley (Colette, Carol, Crying Game) and Horovitz (Patrick Melrose, Moneyball) will develop and adapt the material for a limited television series.
“I’m so happy that Rachael, Elizabeth and Stephen are bringing my books to the screen,” said Albertine. “Right from the start they were sensitive to the extremely personal nature of the work and I knew the books were in the hands of producers with integrity. Their vision is perfectly in tune with the work, they understand the subject and the times, I can’t wait for the project to get started and to see all the characters in my story come to life!”
Karlsen, Woolley and Horovitz added: “What an exciting and exhilarating prospect to re-explore a time when music, fashion, political ideologies and sexuality were turned on their heads. So beautifully evoked alongside personal insights and frank reflections of an extraordinary woman’s life in Albertine’s two incredible memoirs.”
