Corvus acquires Climbing In Heels, new fiction in development by Darren Star

Clare Drysdale, Group Associate Publisher at Atlantic Books, has acquired UK & Comm ex-Canada rights from Sarah Harvey on behalf of Mollie Glick at CAA to Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas’ Climbing in Heels. Climbing in Heels will be published on the Corvus imprint in paperback original in the UK, trade paperback in export markets, and in ebook May 1st 2025.

Beanie, Mercedes and Ella – a Valley Girl, an English rose-with-thorns and a Kentucky blueblood, each denying their past while building their future – together storm the boys’ club that is the hottest talent agency in 1980s Hollywood. A riveting story of friendship, betrayal and survival, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas’s debut novel is also a rollicking tale of sex, drugs and power.

Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas began her career at the William Morris Agency and rose by the late 1980s to become its Senior Vice President, and later the Senior Vice President of ICM, guiding the careers of, among others, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Nicolas Cage and Madonna. More recently, she has produced a broad, successful slate of films and television series including Maid in Manhattan, Mona Lisa Smile, Hustlers, Marry Me and Emily in Paris.

It was announced last week that Darren Star, creator of Sex and the City, Younger and Emily in Paris, is developing Climbing in Heels as an original series for Peacock, following Universal TV pre-emptively buying the rights to the novel in December. Star and Goldsmith-Thomas will co-write and executive produce the proposed series, which he describes as the ‘ballsy and bawdy love child of Mad Men and Sex and the City.’

Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas says, ‘Clare Drysdale and the whole Corvus team not only understood but lovingly embraced the big hair, the big shoulder pads, the big phones and the big dreams of these characters who demanded a seat at a table where they were expected to serve.  Here’s to the climb and the climbers.’

Clare Drysdale, Group Associate Publisher of Atlantic Books, says,

‘The recent adaptation of Rivals reminded us all how entertaining and satisfying a great bonkbuster can be. And Climbing in Heels, the tale of three ambitious secretaries at a Hollywood talent agency in the 1980s, will thrill anyone who guzzled down Lace, Lucky or Valley of the Dolls.’