Paramount Developing Forthcoming S.D. Coverly Novel ‘The Arcane Arts’ For Film
EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures is developing The Arcane Arts, a feature adaptation of the forthcoming novel by S.D. Coverly.
S.D. Coverly is the pseudonym for collaborators Dana Schwartz and Dan Frey, who will adapt their own work. Temple Hill will produce, with Annika Patton overseeing the project for the company.
Slated for publication with Del Rey on May 19, 2026, The Arcane Arts is described by sources as a dark academia erotic thriller with a fantasy twist. The story is set in the hallowed halls of an elite university, where a driven graduate student and her charismatic professor secretly pursue a forbidden branch of magic. Their clandestine research ignites a dangerous passion between them that could unravel each of their darkest secrets.
A novelist, as well as a screenwriter, Frey is coming off the sale earlier this year of his feature spec Doppelganger, which was set up at Skydance with Ryan Coogler producing and Aneesh Chaganty directing. He also recently sold the original TV project Channel to CBS, with Lis Rowinski producing. Frey has worked extensively in both television (Magic: The Gathering at Netflix, pilots for Fox, Onyx and HBO Max) and film (Descendants: The Rise of Red and its forthcoming sequel at Disney+). He is the author of three novels, including tech thriller The Future Is Yours and contemporary fantasy Dreambound.
Schwartz is the author of five other books, including Anatomy: A Love Story (a Reese’s Book Club pick) and Immortality: A Love Story, both #1 New York Times bestsellers. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages. As a screenwriter, she’s developed pilots with Hulu, ABC, CBS, and Disney+, and is one of the writers on the upcoming Netflix animated film, Steps. Schwartz is also the creator and host of the hit iHeartRadio history podcast, Noble Blood.
One of the most prolific producers in the book-to-film space, Temple Hill’s 2025 slate included adaptations of Clown in a Cornfield, which became IFC’s biggest-ever opener in theaters; My Oxford Year, which became the #1 most-watched movie on Netflix in the world, and The Map That Leads to You, which was the #1 movie globally on Prime Video when Amazon released it this past August. Next up are adaptations of Emily Henry’s bestseller, People We Meet on Vacation, which will premiere on Netflix in January, an adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s YA trilogy Children of Blood and Bone for Paramount, with Gina Prince-Bythewood at the helm, and an Amazon series based on Elle Kennedy’s bestselling Off Campus novels.
Both Schwartz and Frey are repped by Sanford Greenburger for publishing rights. Schwartz is also repped by WME and Ziffren Brittenham; Frey by TFC Management and Myman Greenspan.
