Jac Schaeffer will direct the pilot for Holes, a new Disney+ series based on the best-selling book by Louis Sachar.
Variety reports that Jac Schaeffer, creator of WandaVision and Agatha All Along, has been tapped to direct the pilot for Holes. Based on the best-selling book by Louis Sachar, the new TV series will focus on a teenage girl who “is sent to a detention camp where the ruthless Warden forces the campers to dig holes for a mysterious purpose.“
The original Holes novel follows “the story of Stanley Yelnats, an unlucky boy who is sent to a juvenile detention camp for a crime he did not commit. Now incarcerated at Camp Green Lake, Stanley is forced to spend his days digging holes in a dry lake bed. But as the story unfolds, Stanley discovers that both his own story and the story of his family are more connected to Camp Green Lake than he could have ever imagined.” The book was previously adapted into a feature film in 2003, which starred Shia LaBeouf, Sigourney Weaver, Henry Winkler, Patricia Arquette, Jon Voight, and Tim Blake Nelson.
Schaeffer is no stranger to directing; she helmed the 2009 sci-fi romantic comedy TiMER starring Emma Caulfield and three episodes of Agatha All Along. Alina Mankin (Lodge 49) will serve as writer and executive producer on the series, with Liz Phang (Yellowjackets) set as showrunner and executive producer.
Drew Goddard will executive produce the Holes series through his Goddard Textiles banner alongside Sarah Esberg. “My mom’s been a schoolteacher for her whole life and, as such, she’s served as a de facto book scout for Goddard Textiles,” Goddard said. “She always knows what ‘the kids’ are into long before everyone else does. ‘Holes’ was the first book she suggested to me – this was back in the late ‘90s – and she was positive it was going to be a phenomenon. It feels good to bring it full circle for Mrs. Goddard and her sixth grade class.” He added that Mankin and Phang have “done a wonderful job capturing Louis Sachar’s unique spirit. To say much more about what they have in store would spoil all the fun.“
