Producers building 'House of Night'

Vampire novels acquired by Birnbaum, Chechik

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Producers Michael Birnbaum and Jeremiah Chechik have used their own coin to option screen rights to the "House of Night," a series of nine young adult novels by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.

The series, published by St. Martin's Griffin, just reached its fourth installment with the recently released "Untamed."

"House of Night" takes the vampire myth in a "Harry Potter"-esque direction. In the series, "vampyres" are accepted in society; they possess a genetic anomaly that manifests itself in some people at puberty. Vampyres are "marked" and sent to the House of Night, a school that offers training necessary to become an adult vampyre.

Protag is Zoey Redbird, whose ordinary life is thrown into disarray when she becomes a vampyre and must change schools and enter a brand new world.

"P.C. and Kristin Cast created a thrilling world that juxtaposes teen drama with supernatural suspense, using the transition from human to vampire as a metaphor for the transition from adolescence to adulthood," Birnbaum said.

Birnbaum produced "John Tucker Must Die" and is developing "Art Con" with Michael Douglas and Chechik; Chechik's directing credits include "Benny and Joon," and he most recently helmed and produced ESPN series "The Bronx Is Burning."