The Ink Factory And Marc Platt Productions Partner For Lara Prescott’s Epic Debut Novel Adaptation WE WERE NEVER HERE

Lara Prescott’s Epic Dr Zhivago Cold War Thriller and Love Story ‘in excellent hands’

Award-winning London and LA based independent studio The Ink Factory (The Night Manager) is partnering with Academy Award® nominated producer Marc Platt (La La Land, Bridge of Spies) and Adam Siegel (Drive, 2 Guns) to adapt We Were Never Here, a debut novel by Lara Prescott.

Based on events surrounding the publication of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago and the role the CIA played in using it as a weapon of propaganda for the West, We Were Never Here has already been sold in twenty-five countries. It will be published by Knopf in the U.S. in Fall 2019, and Hutchinson in the UK.

The adaptation will be produced by Marc Platt, Adam Siegel, Stephen Cornwell and Simon Cornwell.

Set in the 1950s at the height of the Cold War, We Were Never Here centres on a plan by the CIA plan to engineer the publication of Boris Pasternak’s controversial novel ‘Doctor Zhivago’ in his home country. Despite the fact that he was Russia’s greatest living author, the authorities there ordered the manuscript destroyed and the book banned due to themes they considered critical of the regime. The CIA smuggled the manuscript out of Russia, had it translated, and then smuggled the book back into the country, where it was used as anti-socialist propaganda. The story is told through the voices of the women at the centre of the mission, including Pasternak’s mistress and muse, Olga Ivinskaya, and Irina, a young CIA recruit.

APA’s Lucy Stille represents film and television rights to the book and put together the deal with The Ink Factory and Marc Platt Productions. The deal was negotiated by Stille alongside Jeff Kleinman and Jamie Chambliss at Folio Literary Management, and by Yogita Puri for The Ink Factory.

Stephen Cornwell at The Ink Factory said “‘In its ambition, scope and execution, ‘We Were Never Here’ is a remarkable novel by any standards, and as a first novel, breathtaking. The greatest spy stories are also great love stories. Lara’s wonderful book delivers on all that promise and more, and we couldn’t be more excited to be setting out on the journey of bringing her characters and story to the screen than with our friends and colleagues Adam and Marc.’.”

“I’m thrilled by the interest in adapting my novel,” said Lara Prescott. “And I’m such a huge fan of The Ink Factory, Marc Platt, and Adam Seigel. I know the story is in excellent hands.”

Adam Seigel added, “While ‘We Were Never Here’ thrillingly tells the untold story behind the publication of Doctor Zhivago – a story involving a recently declassified CIA mission and the truth behind one of the greatest and most well-known love stories of all time – at the centre of Lara Prescott’s unforgettable novel is the audacious idea that a piece of art can change the world.”

About The Ink Factory
The Ink Factory is an independent studio with global reach, founded in 2010 by Stephen and Simon Cornwell. The company tells compelling stories across television, film, games and immersive experiences, developing these from inception to release, through long-term relationships with authors and creators. The Ink Factory takes bold creative and financial decisions and seeks out opportunities for ambitious and genre-defining work.

A core pillar of the company is the adaptation of the work of author John le Carré for film, television and other media.

The Ink Factory’s latest feature – Drew Pearce’s directorial debut Hotel Artemis, starring Jodie Foster and Sterling K. Brown – was released this Summer in both the US and UK. Fighting with My Family, the forthcoming Film4 – WWE feature written and directed by Stephen Merchant and starring Dwayne Johnson, Florence Pugh and Vince Vaughn, is produced in association with The Ink Factory.

The company is also behind the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning drama series The Night Manager, based on a le Carré novel of the same name, co-produced with the BBC and AMC. The Ink Factory’s forthcoming television adaptation of le Carré’s The Little Drummer Girl, directed by Park Chan-wook, will air on the BBC and AMC this Fall. The company is also developing a series based on The Spy Who Came in From the Cold produced in association with Paramount TV, once again with the BBC and AMC.

The company’s first film, A Most Wanted Man, based on the novel by John le Carré, was released in 2014. Other past projects include Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, directed by Ang Lee and based on the award-winning novel by Ben Fountain, and Netflix Original Message from the King, a noir thriller by Stephen Cornwell and Oliver Butcher which premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

The Ink Factory has also partnered with one of the games industry's top talents, Matt Nava, to found digital studio Giant Squid. Giant Squid’s first game, the twice-BAFTA-nominated ABZÛ, was released in August 2016.

The company is headquartered in London and Los Angeles.