EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off its selection as Reese’s Book Club pick for May 2026, Alexandra Andrews’ The Fine Art of Lying has been acquired for series development at UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group.
Andrews is executive producing the thriller drama project along with Scarlett Johansson‘s These Pictures.
In The Fine Art of Lying, Clare Bast traded small-town Binghamton for Manhattan’s art world but three years after pausing her PhD for motherhood, she’s desperate to reclaim her identity. When a powerful socialite opens doors to curators and collectors, Clare feels alive again — until her quest for a lost masterpiece drags her into a murder investigation. Every clue points to her. Now Clare must fight to clear her name and protect her family before the glittering world she craved destroys everything.
Andrews’ debut novel Who Is Maud Dixon?, published in 2021 by Little Brown, landed her a recognition as Breakout Novelist by The Wall Street Journal that year. The book, published in 28 languages, made several Top Books of the Year lists, including by the New York Times, NPR and Time. Andrews is repped by CAA.
These Pictures, founded in 2017 by Johansson and producing partners Jonathan Lia and Keenan Flynn, produced the Apple TV+ romance-comedy-drama film Fly Me to the Moon, starring Johansson and Channing Tatum. More recently, the company produced Eleanor The Great, which marked Johansson’s directorial debut. In TV, as Deadline reported exclusively, These Pictures is executive producing a series adaptation of The Nanny Diaries in the works at Netflix, based on the bestselling novel and the 2007 film in which Johansson starred.
