ARDEN WRAY
The right kind of producer
“I couldn’t be happier,” says Zoe Whittall about the news that Sarah Polley has optioned feature-film rights to The Best Kind of People (House of Anansi Press), Whittall’s Scotiabank Giller Prize–shortlisted novel. Whittall and her agent, Samantha Haywood of the Transatlantic Agency, discussed optioning the book with several people prior to its 2016 publication, but Whittall took issue with how some producers wanted to approach the story. “Some were more concerned with making an ‘is he guilty or not?’ film, or a procedural-style TV show, which would not be what I wanted,” she says. Polley – who has slated the film as her next project – reached out to Haywood in February of this year to discuss acquiring rights. “Sarah and Zoe’s vision was perfectly aligned from the first call,” says Haywood, who says the deal is a “match made in CanLit movie heaven.” –Alexander Huls