Sony picks up Wattpad hit

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) in the US has acquired the TV rights to a horror romance from web storytelling platform Wattpad.

Death is My BFF is written by Katarina E Tonks. The show will be executive produced by Paul Shapiro under his All In Media banner, along with Wattpad’s Aron Levitz and Eric Lehrman.

The series has been widely consumed by fans all over the world with more than 92 million reads on the Wattpad platform.

It follows the Angel of Death as he seeks to claim a woman’s soul but can only do so if she signs the contract in her own blood.

“I started writing on Wattpad because of the unique engagement between writers and readers that you can’t find anywhere else,” said Tonks. “I set out to create a different kind of story, where the most feared villain in everybody’s life is personified as the sexy main love interest.”

Almost 1,000 Wattpad stories have been turned into books, TV shows, films and digital media. Recent entertainment partnerships for Wattpad Studios include projects and deals with CW Seed, Universal Cable Productions, Entertainment One and others.

Last month, SPT agreed a multi-project deal to co-develop and coproduce young-adult novels from Wattpad with transatlantic film and TV prodco Komixx Entertainment.