Wiip gets The Memo, partners Lean Machine after bidding war for upcoming novel

Mare of Easttown studio Wiip has optioned the rights to The Memo, a forthcoming novel from culture journalists and former Wall Street Journal reporters Rachel Dodes and Lauren Mechling.

Paul Lee

The company, which said it secured the rights after winning a “heated bidding war,” is developing the book for television in partnership with screenwriter and director Aline Brosh McKenna’s production company Lean Machine.

Set to be published by Harper Perennial in 2024, the high-concept novel follows a 30-something woman whose mounting suspicion that she never “got the memo” is confirmed, and she’s given the chance to travel back in time and fix her worst mistakes.

Executive producing alongside Wiip’s Paul Lee and Mark Roybal are McKenna, Heather Morris, Dodes and Mechling.

McKenna is also developing several other TV projects through her Lean Machine banner, including Badass at Hulu. She is also attached to write, produce and direct the ABC Signature miniseries Golden Spoon, which is based on a novel by Jessa Maxwell.

In addition, McKenna will soon make her feature film directorial debut with Your Place or Mine, starring Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher and set for release in February 2023 on Netflix.

As well as HBO’s Mare of Easttown, Wiip also produces Amazon Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, Apple TV+’s Dickinson and The Roku Channel’s Dummy, starring Anna Kendrick.

In July, it was announced that Wiip had secured additional investment from entertainment-focused private equity firm Atwater Capital.