Joy Gorman, Rise Literary Forge Publishing Imprint for Book-to-Screen Development

By BlockReel Editorial Team Industry Insights February 4, 2026

Joy Gorman, Rise Literary Forge Publishing Imprint for Book-to-Screen Development

In an industry still reeling from... well, from everything that's happened in the last few years, the perpetual hunt for intellectual property continues unabated. But what if you could not only acquire the rights to promising stories but effectively cultivate them from conception, shepherding them from manuscript to motion picture, all under one expanding umbrella institution? This isn't groundbreaking, precisely; studios have done it for decades, but the scale and integration of these new ventures are what merit attention. That’s the strategic gambit producer Joy Gorman (of 13 Reasons Why and Unprisoned fame) is making by partnering with Rise Literary to launch a new publishing imprint under the Simon & Schuster banner.

This move, per statements made to the press, isn't just about finding the next big thing. This is about manufacturing it, controlling the narrative from its nascent literary form right through its onscreen manifestation. It's a calculated response to what has become an increasingly competitive, and often opaque, IP market. After all, why bid against two dozen other production companies for the movie rights to the latest literary sensation when you can help create that sensation yourself? This kind of vertical integration represents an evolution in how some industry players are positioning themselves, not just as adaptors, but as originators and orchestrators of story across media.

The announcement posits Joy Gorman's Joy Coalition and Rise Literary, led by CEO Kristen McGuiness, will "leverage influential support for projects long before publication, while also sourcing books from stories initially conceived for the screen." This reciprocal model is intriguing. It speaks to a deeper integration than simply optioning a finished novel. Are we talking about reverse-engineering novels from pitches that didn't quite land in a streamer's development slate? Or perhaps using literary publication as a proving ground, a low-cost, high-yield first pass at audience engagement before sinking millions into a pilot? Either way, it signals a desire to de-risk the development process by creating multiple points of entry and validation for intellectual property.

Think about the historical context here. Back in the Golden Age, many studios had entire story departments, sometimes even their own publishing arms, feeding material directly into their production pipelines. MGM's immense power wasn't solely in its stars and cinematographers like William Daniels, but in its ability to generate, control, and exploit every facet of a project. Is this a return to that kind of total control, albeit in a more decentralized, partnership-driven guise? It certainly feels like a reaction to the current fragmentation of rights and the bidding wars that inflate material’s value, often before a single frame is shot.

The new publishing imprint, distributed by Simon & Schuster, will purportedly "connect TV and film IP with trade publication, ebook, and audiobook opportunities with national and international distribution." This is where the long-term play becomes clear. This isn't just about finding a story to make into a show. It's about establishing an ecosystem for that story. A novel gets published, generates buzz, gets reviewed, perhaps even sells well enough to hit a bestseller list, all while simultaneously being developed for screen. The publishing success then becomes a de facto marketing campaign for the eventual screen adaptation, and vice versa. It’s a closed-loop system designed to maximize exposure and, crucially, profit from every stage of a story's lifecycle.

Kristen McGuiness noted in a public statement that "Few publishers have figured out how to maximize the book to screen pipeline but Joy’s incredible track record as an adaptation expert makes her the perfect guide to navigating new ways to develop material for the screen and from the screen." This isn't just a nod to Gorman's producing credits like 13 Reasons Why or Hulu’s Unprisoned; it’s an acknowledgment of the distinct challenges and opportunities inherent in translation from one medium to another. Adaptation is its own art form, one demanding a producer who understands not only narrative but also the unique demands of episodic television or feature film structure, pacing, and visual storytelling. A great book does not automatically make a great script, and a skilled hand is necessary to bridge that chasm.

Consider the practical implications for filmmakers and cinematographers. If more content originates within these integrated structures, does it streamline development? Potentially. A director or cinematographer might find themselves looking at a novel that was conceived with its screen potential already in mind, perhaps even with specific visual concepts already discussed between authors and producers. This could provide a deeper foundation for visual pre-visualization and stylistic choices early in a project’s life. On the other hand, it also centralizes creative control in new ways. Does the author retain more agency, or does the screen adaptation begin to dictate the literary form even before publication? These are the kinds of discussions that happen in boardrooms, far from the craft of lensing a scene.

The stated goal is to "provide new pathways for storytellers in response to the contraction in the traditional Hollywood business model." This phrase, "contraction in the traditional Hollywood business model," is the polite industry euphemism for "everything is a mess and no one knows where the money is coming from next quarter, so we're all improvising." It's an accurate assessment. With streamers pulling back on indiscriminate spending, the scramble for proven, pre-vetted material is only intensifying. Building a platform that can organically generate and prove out that material before it ever reaches a network pitch offers a compelling alternative to scrambling for the diminishing scraps of third-party IP.

The first project under this new collaboration is Emily Paulson's suspense novel, The Revenge Party, slated for a May 2026 release. It will be interesting to observe how quickly this moves through the development pipeline and what kind of synergy, if any, is publicly articulated between its literary and potential screen versions. Will the novel be marketed with its screen potential front and center? Will the screen adaptation be announced close to the book's release, or will it wait for literary success to be established? These are tactical decisions that will reveal the core strategy behind this new venture.

For those of us observing the industry, this is not merely a press release about a new deal; it’s a bellwether for how the business of storytelling is adapting to economic pressures and technological shifts. The traditional boundaries between publishing, film, television, and even gaming content continue to blur. Companies are not just acquiring rights; they are investing in the entire lifecycle of a story. One might look at companies like Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine or even A24's expansion into publishing as precedents for this kind of diversified content play, where narrative IP is seen as a fungible asset, movable and adaptable across various platforms.

As studios and production companies increasingly seek to bolster their IP portfolios, the move by Gorman and Rise Literary is a logical, albeit ambitious, progression. It bypasses the often-inflated market for existing bestsellers by creating a direct conduit from author to screen, potentially reshaping traditional pathways for both writers and filmmakers. Will it foster a new generation of storytellers whose work is inherently cross-media? Or will it simply create one more gatekeeper in an already heavily controlled industry? The answers will, as always, be found in the projects themselves, and how they ultimately make their way to screens, large and small. It's a long game, this content business, and some players are clearly trying to build the entire playing field themselves.

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