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Exclusive: The company that holds rights to the literary estates of Langston Hughes and Evelyn Waugh is heading on a West Coast charm offensive and has snapped up the estate of Somerset Maugham.

International Literary Properties (Ilp) launched in 2019 but has so far focused on the UK and East Coast. Over the coming weeks, however, UK and Europe CEO Hilary Strong has numerous meetings in the diary with LA producers as Ilp looks to strike deals for adaptations of books from its 50-author roster across TV, film and in other areas.

“As we continue to buy considerable assets we need to broaden our relationships with the U.S. production community and showrunners,” Strong told Deadline. “We are going out to make sure people understand the message so we can start to develop producer networks in Hollywood akin to what we have on the East Coast and in the UK.”

Hilary...

Bruce Miller has stepped down from his post as showrunner of the “The Handmaid’s Tale,” passing his duties on the sixth and final season to Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang, who already served as writers and executive producers.

Miller has showrun the Hulu drama since its premiere in 2017. He will remain on staff as a writer and executive producer on Season 6 while moving on to focus on developing a screen adaptation “The Testaments,” the “Handmaid’s Tale” sequel that original author Margaret Atwood wrote in 2019.

Tuchman has extended his preexisting overall deal with MGM, which serves as the studio on the series. Along with “The Handmaid’s Tale,” he is best known for writing for the 1997 animated “Anastasia” movie and serving as showrunner on “Kyle Xy,” with other credits including Freeform’s “Stitchers,” the CW’s “Beauty and the Beast,” Syfy’s “Alphas” and “Eureka” and CBS’ “Early Edition” and “Dr. Quinn,...

Every now and then, Kathy Kleiner Rubin likes to duck into a bookstore with her husband, Scott, and head straight for the true crime section. She’ll scan the shelves until she spots it: a book on the serial killer Ted Bundy. The Stranger Beside Me, maybe, or perhaps The Only Living Witness. Whatever it is, she’s probably read it already, but she’ll grab it off the shelf anyway and flip through it until she finds her name. Then she’ll look at her husband and grin.

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It's not uncommon for the wives or confidants of famous criminals to pen novels about their experiences with the convicted — think My Friend Dahmer or The Stranger Beside Me. What is uncommon, however, is for the author to be in such great denial about the reality of their situation. Which is seemingly the case with Tammi Menendez, wife of convicted murderer Erik Menendez. In her 2005 memoir They Said We'd Never Make It: My Life With Erik Menendez, Tammi described her deeply strained marriage with Erik — who was convicted of a double life sentence without parole for the 1989 murder of his parents. In excerpts obtained by Radar Online, Tammi wrote, "I cry myself to sleep. I didn’t realize it would be this difficult.” Question is, what did she expect? Additionally, the now 56-year-old blamed the prison system for the distance in her marriage to Erik. "Being married to you is a hard and painful life.