Before her debut novel, “Witch Season,” even hit the shelves in June, author Julia Bianco already had a deal with Lionsgate Television to adapt the romantasy book. 

She’s also set to executive produce and write the script for the series, a task she says has “very different demands” compared to writing a novel from scratch. While many authors must put their trust into a screenwriter to turn a book they spent months or even years on into a movie or television series, Bianco gets to exert more creative control over the process. She says she’s looking at it as an opportunity to expand on what she’s already created with the book, something she’s excited for fans to see. 

“There are kind of two worlds of ‘Witch Season,’ and I’m creating them very separately,” she told Booked & Screened. 

“Witch Season” is a contemporary fantasy set in a world where some people have magic, including a class of people called the unsettled—those who aren’t aware of the power they possess until it “explodes out of them in a catastrophic burst,” a synopsis of the book reads. The book follows Katherine Barnes, a witch who is part of the Los Angeles-based Aestas coven. She’s tasked with bringing the unsettled into the coven and maintaining order in the city. 

Conflict occurs when Silas Khatri, the heir to the world’s most powerful coven, Noctis, scrutinizes Aestas for its practices outside the rules. Katherine and Silas butt heads but must come together when a bigger threat comes into play. 

“I think there’s so much world that’ll get to be built” in the TV series, Bianco said. “The book is very tight in its focus, and the show will get to build out the world in a bigger way.”

To help her with the process, Bianco is leaning on her background in the entertainment industry. She previously worked as an assistant to filmmaker Jon M. Chu on the “Wicked” movies, and just last month it was announced that a project she worked on—“Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone”—is being adapted by Amazon. 

Bianco says being a lifelong fan of books and TV also helps, adding that she was “binge watching before binge watching was a thing.” She understands fandoms and gets why people can feel so strongly about how their favorite books are adapted for the screen. 

“As a reader, it can be upsetting to see things change, and it can feel like it just happens” without much thought, she said. “But I can say … [changes are] never done thoughtlessly. 

“All of these things are coming from a place of deep, deep love.”

Bianco said she’s most excited for her readers and new audiences alike to get to experience the unique magic system in her book. There’s a cost to the magic people use in this world—the users experience pain for it. She describes it as a sort of corporate system of magic, with rules and politics in play. 

As she works on the script, Bianco said she’s also focusing on bringing the female relationships from the book to life.

“It’s really important to me to maintain a lot of the female friendships that are in the book and to really continue to build on those in the series in a fun way,” she said. 

Bianco said that while she wasn’t necessarily thinking about her book being adapted while she wrote it, her background and love for TV came through unconsciously. 

“I think my storytelling DNA is very much built on both books and TV,” she said.

That said, she already knew she had a TV deal in place while working on the sequel, “Heat Spell,” knowledge she tried not to let affect her writing process. (Bianco said she had just turned in the manuscript for “Heat Spell” shortly before she spoke to Booked & Screened). 

“Working on the second book knowing that the TV show was happening didn’t make me treat it any different,” she said. “It was important to me that it functions as a book.” 

Bianco said she felt a lot of sadness leaving the characters behind at the close of Book 2—it’s a planned duology and while she may return to the same magical universe, she believes she’s wrapped up Katherine’s storyline. 

The good news: She gets to stick with those characters a little bit longer thanks to the deal with Lionsgate. 

“It’s sad to be done with these characters who I’ve been working with for five years,” she said she thought at the time of completing the manuscript. 

Because the script is still in the process, there have yet to be any announcements concerning casting or release dates for “Witch Season,” but Booked & Screened will cover updates as they come out. 

About the writer

Danielle Haynes is the co-founder and co-editor of Booked & Screened, covering book-to-screen adaptations, film and TV development.