Lee Daniels adapting VALLEY OF THE DOLLS for NBC

Precious director, Lee Daniels is set to adapt Jacqueline Susann’s classic 1966 novel Valley of the Dolls into a TV series for NBC. Deadline reports that the period project was picked up from 20th Century Fox TV and studio-based Chernin Entertainment, with a script commitment plus penalty. Daniels is writing the script and directing the show,  which will be based on the 1967 Valley of the Dolls film. The project is being exec produced by Chernin and Katherine Pope. 

Chernin Entertainment has a total of 2 other dramas sold at Fox, including Gina Fattore’s Second Chances, about "a female trauma surgeon who has to cope with the fact that she was the only survivor of a car crash that killed her best friend", and Jon Cowan’s legal thriller Truth.

The novel has sold over 30 million copies, "spans over two decades to chronicle the lives, career highs and ultimate self-destruction of three female best friends: Anne Welles, who works at a Broadway talent agency; Neely O’Hara, a vaudeville star; and Jennifer North, a showgirl." Dolls refer to a slang for sleeping pills, that each of the characters becme dependent on in the story. The film starred Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke and Sharon Tate. The story has also been told as a mini-series in 1981 produced by 20th Century Fox TV; and as a late-night soap in 1994.

Daniels has The Paper Boy set to release next year, and stars Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron. I have seen the '67 film and found it rather interesting. This TV series should be cool with Daniels involved.