'Sex Drive" the movie, which hits theaters in October, looks pretty familiar. Teenage male wants to lose his virginity, embarks on journey to do so. High jinks ensue.
Sound like the latest prank boy film from "Superbad" producer Judd Apatow? Not quite. "Sex Drive" shares a pedigree familiar to female teens younger than 18 everywhere: The movie is adapted from a book created by the publisher that also gave them the teen lit faves "Gossip Girl," "Pretty Little Liars," "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and "The Clique."
The company, New York-based Alloy Entertainment, is a book factory similar to the syndicates that created the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series decades ago. Editors cook up ideas they think will appeal to teens and then hire writers to follow their outlines, similar to the way dramas and sitcoms are written for TV. Alloy produces about 30 books a year; six of them last week were on the New York Times bestseller list.
Alloy is now adapting its formula to Hollywood. This fall, television network the CW will air a second season of "Gossip Girl" and launch "Privileged," while ABC Family will air the three-day miniseries "Samurai Girl" early next month. All three shows are based on Alloy books.
The second "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" movie comes out next week, followed by "Sex Drive" a few months later. And "The Clique," a made-for-DVD movie based on a popular Alloy book, appears this fall.
In all, more than a dozen other shows and movies based on Alloy literary properties are in development.
"We're having a little bit of a run of good luck," said Bob Levy, Alloy Entertainment's executive vice president of film and TV development and production.
Well, more than good luck, perhaps. When it comes to capturing the zeitgeist of female teen angst, Alloy has developed a successful formula that mixes the drama of boyfriends with a heavily commodified lifestyle.
Add in the fact that a movie or TV show based on a book that already has a following gives producers the advantage of a "pre-sold" concept in vying for audience attention, and the reasons for Alloy's inroads into Hollywood become more clear.
Few know the teen market better than Alloy Media & Marketing, the publicly traded parent company of Alloy Entertainment. Alloy also owns Channel One, a TV network shown in schools; Alloy Education, which publishes books on education; a number of teen-focused websites including Teen.com and SugarLoot.com; and a teen marketing agency, Alloy Media & Marketing.
