‘You’ Author Caroline Kepnes Sets Directorial Debut With ‘The Attentionist’
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‘You’ Author Caroline Kepnes to Make Series Directorial Debut With Psychological Thriller ‘The Attentionist’
Caroline Kepnes is moving behind the camera for her next psychological thriller, with the You author set to write and direct the upcoming short-form series The Attentionist.
Kepnes will adapt the project from her 2022 short story of the same name, originally published in Tor Nightfire’s horror anthology Dark Stars. The eight-episode first season will mark Kepnes’ series directorial debut and is being developed as a premium short-form production for YouTube.
Set during the 1990s on Cape Cod, The Attentionist centers on Maeve, an awkward 14-year-old living with her older sister in a community divided between year-round working residents and the wealthier seasonal population that arrives along the waterfront.
The sisters are drawn toward a world they observe from the outside, and Maeve seemingly finds an entry point through a private phone relationship with a boy connected to a local boat club. As the conversations continue, however, the relationship begins revealing a more disturbing dimension, gradually pulling Maeve and her family into increasingly dangerous circumstances.
The setting has a personal connection for Kepnes, who grew up on Cape Cod and plans to shoot the series on location.
“Sometimes it feels like a lakeside slasher, and sometimes it feels like a boy-meets-girl oceanside summer romance,” Kepnes said. “I wrote The Attentionist as a mashup of genres and being at the helm of the adaptation is quite literally a dream come true.”
Kepnes said the project combines psychological horror with small-town family drama while drawing upon the insular Cape Cod communities she knew growing up.
The series is currently casting its key roles. Mark Roberts of Roberts Media and Lorena David are producing.
The production team also includes casting director Joseph Middleton, whose credits include Road House and Pet Sematary, cinematographer Michael Lloyd (Bosco, Borderline), production designer Stephonik (The Florida Project, Red Rocket) and costume designer Brianna Murphy (Dìdi).
The Attentionist represents another expansion of Kepnes’ work beyond publishing following the success of You. Her Joe Goldberg character originated with the 2014 novel before becoming the center of Netflix’s five-season series starring Penn Badgley.
Kepnes has since expanded the literary world across five books. Her latest, You First, arrived in June and moves backward in the character’s timeline to explore 17-year-old Joe Goldberg in post-9/11 New York City. Kepnes drew from her own journals and photographs from her time living in the West Village while developing the period setting.
Her work outside the You franchise has continued to explore psychological and horror storytelling. Her short story “Room 24,” published in The End of the World as We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand, received a Shirley Jackson Award nomination.
Before becoming a novelist, Kepnes worked as a pop culture journalist for Entertainment Weekly and wrote for television series including 7th Heaven and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
The Attentionist will be part of a larger slate from a new media venture expected to be announced in the coming days. Production is currently preparing to shoot on location in Cape Cod, with additional casting and release details still to come.
The 1990s Cape Cod setting and the contrast between local families and seasonal wealth sound like they could add a lot of atmosphere. I’m especially curious about how Maeve’s seemingly innocent phone relationship gradually turns darker and puts her family at risk. The eight-episode format also seems well suited to slowly building tension and mystery. Even though Basket Random is obviously a completely different kind of entertainment, I appreciate stories like this that take their time developing suspense.