Neal Street News

The screen rights for Kirsty Capes’ debut Careless, hailed as ‘the literary equivalent of gold dust’ by Benjamin Zephaniah, have been snapped up by multi-award-winning production company Neal Street Productions (1917, Call The Midwife, Britannia, Informer).

Orion’s lead debut launch of the year, Careless tells the story of Bess – a flawed, feisty and fearless heroine - who is in foster care and pregnant at fifteen. A raw and big-hearted celebration of female friendship, the care experience and following your dreams against the odds, Careless is a coming-of-age story like no other.

Director of Film & TV at Neal Street, Nicolas Brown, said: “Creatively, there are few pieces of material we have responded to as strongly as we have to Careless. We continually came back to the strength of the book’s unique tone and take on a coming-of-age story, its vivid and memorable characters, the wonderful central friendship at its heart, and the important insight into the care system and meaning of family. We are thrilled to have secured the option and believe Kirsty’s extraordinary novel has all the ingredients to become an exceptional drama for the screen”.

Careless will be published in hardback, eBook and audio on 13th May. It has already received rave endorsements from Pandora Sykes, Charlotte Mendelson, Libby Page, Abbie Greaves, Richard Roper and Jendella Benson, and was named a 2021 Literary Highlight by Guardian, BBC, Daily Mail, Stylist, Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping.

Kirsty Capes works in the marketing department at Mills and Boon (HarperCollins) and, as a care leaver herself, is an advocate for better representation for care-experienced people in the media. She said: “I am so delighted that Careless has found its home with Neal Street. I was totally bowled over by their passion and vision for the book – they feel like the perfect team to bring Bess’s story to the screen”.

The screen rights were sold by Anwen Hooson at Bird Literary Agency.