HBO Max has optioned the Lev Rosen YA novel Camp and will turn it into a feature film. Dan Jinks will produce through his Dan Jinks Company. Script will be written by Kit Williamson, the creator, director and star of the Emmy-nominated LGBTQ series EastSiders, which recently premiered its fourth and final season on Netflix.
Sixteen-year-old Randy Kapplehoff loves spending the summer at Camp Outland, a camp for queer teens. It’s where he met his best friends. It’s where he takes to the stage in the big musical. And it’s where he fell for Hudson Aaronson-Lim – who’s only into straight-acting guys and barely knows not-at-all-straight-acting Randy even exists. Randy reinvents himself over the summer as Del, a buff, masculine and on-the-market camper. Even if it means giving up show tunes, nail polish, and his unicorn bedsheets, he’s determined to get Hudson to fall for him. But as he and Hudson grow closer, Randy has to ask himself how much he is willing to change for love. And is it really love anyway, if Hudson doesn’t know who he truly is?
The book will be published May 26 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in the U.S., and on May 28 from Penguin Random House Children’s in the UK.
“I found this book hilariously funny and also quite moving,” said Jinks, whose producing credits include Best Picture winner American Beauty, Milk and Big Fish. “It’s a gay teenage love story that has nothing to do with coming out. A book, and a movie, like this would have meant the world to me when I was growing up. I’m thrilled that HBO Max jumped on board so enthusiastically.”
Rosen writes books for all ages, most recently Jack of Hearts, a young adult mystery about a teen sex advice columnist and his anonymous stalker, and Depth, an adult noir that takes place in a New York City flooded by climate change.
Rosen is represented by Lucy Stille Literary; Williamson by More/Medavoy; and Buchwald; and Jinks by Eric Brooks at Goodman Schenkman & Brecheen.
Jessie Henderson at HBO Max bought in the project and will oversee for the streaming service.