Press release from Miranda Brown Publicity:
Australian publisher Hardie Grant Egmont and Melbourne-based Westside Film & Television are proud to announce that the Go Girl! series will soon be adapted for the television screen. Go Girl! explores the everyday lives of ordinary girls, who are anything but ordinary. You go girl!
The life of a ten-year-old girl might look innocent from the outside but from the inside it is an intense world fraught with dangers and success in almost equal proportions. What to do with that crabby teacher? Or when your two best friends become worst enemies? Or when your annoying little sister decides she’s your shadow? Tapping into the intense emotional dramas of this world has led the Go Girl! series to become a children’s book publishing phenomenon, adored by young girls worldwide.
A publishing phenomenon, the Go Girl! books – more than fifty titles – have a staggeringly large fan base. Over 1.6 million copies have sold in Australia alone, with individual titles reaching close to 70,000 copies. The books have been released in the U.K., U.S., Canada, Brazil and Turkey and will soon be released in Argentina, India and French Speaking Canada.
The books clearly fill a gaping hole in the market. Real girls being themselves. Thanks to the passion of its massive tween readership, the much-loved Go Girl! series presents a golden opportunity for a television series.
Producer Ann Darrouzet pointed to the enormous appetite for these books which deal with the real life circumstances of eight to eleven year old girls. “It is clear from the sales figures that girls in this age group are delighted to have their lives reflected back to them. They love the intense emotional world the books conjure up. They are intrigued to watch their favourite characters negotiate the tricky classroom, family and playground dynamics. The series provides a kind of emotional GPS for girls this age.”
Following in the footsteps of hit book series-cum-television shows such as The Saddle Club and The Babysitters Club, Go Girl! plays out the real life concerns of young girls, in a show that parents can heartily approve. Through a family of adolescent characters navigating the demands of school, family and friendships, tween viewers will feel like the emotional obstacle course of their daily lives are up there on screen. There are no magic solutions; just sheer exuberance, determination, warmth and humour see them through their trials and their triumphs.
The 26 x half hour live action drama series will be developed and produced by Ann Darrouzet (Snake Tales, Holly’s Heroes) in association with David Rapsey (Driven Crazy, Ship to Shore) and Moira Moss (Queen Kat, Carmel & St. Jude, Shortcuts). As a team they bring together producing, script and directing experience in live action children’s television drama.
Hardie Grant Chief Executive Sandy Grant has expressed his delight with the arrangement to bring the books to the TV screen. ”The Go Girl! series has been so successful because it genuinely reflects the joys and triumphs of young girls lives. We are seriously excited about seeing the books make the transition to television.”