Universal’s Britney Spears biopic has found its writer with Liz Meriwether, the TV powerhouse behind New Girl and Dying for Sex, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
For the project, the studio is re-teaming with the creative team behind the Wicked films, with Jon M. Chu attached to direct and Marc Platt set to produce. Universal had no comment on today’s news.
The movie will be based on the “… Baby One More Time” singer’s 2023 best-selling memoir The Woman in Me, where the singer recounts her career from teen pop stardom through several high-profile romances, including with Justin Timberlake, and her public mental breakdown that led to a conservatorship that she later spent years fighting to be released from.
The Woman in Me has sold millions of copies worldwide since being published by Gallery Books on Oct. 24, 2023. The audiobook was read by Michelle Williams and became the fastest-selling in Simon & Schuster’s history.
In the wake of the success of Michael, studios are looking for other music superstars to give the movie treatment to. Universal, which has had success with the genre, is currently in production on a Snoop Dogg biopic with Outer Banks star Jonathan Daviss set to play the “Gin and Juice” rapper.
Meriwether, repped by WME and McKuin Frankel, is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after showrunners and is behind a string of series including The Dropout and Bless This Mess. Most recently, she created Hulu crime drama The Furious starring Emmy Rossum.
