Netflix's Newest Teen Romcom Was Written By A 15-Year-Old Girl On Wattpad

14 May 2018, 14:31

By Nicky Idika

You better get working on those Wattpad stories.

Netflix's newest teenage romantic comedy The Kissing Booth breezed onto the streaming platform May 11 and with it came a talented young cast, and a few beloved veterans (hello Molly Ringwald!).

You may have enjoyed the teenage hijinks of Joey King as Elle Evans, but you might not have realised that the entire story came from the mind of 15-year-old Beth Reekles.

Beth, who is now 22, first rose to prominence after the book she wrote at age fifteen, The Kissing Booth, won the Most Popular Teen Fiction award on Wattpad and garnered 19 million reads on the site alone.

Soon after, Beth was given a three book deal with Random House, eventually leading to news of a Netflix adaptation of The Kissing Booth in early 2017.

At the time, Beth shared her reaction over having the book she wrote at age fifteen adapted into a Netflix movie.

#TKBmovie & Netflix - IT'S HAPPENING.

Of course, the source material was written by Beth, but the Netflix adaptation was written and directed by Vince Marcello (Zombie Prom, Liar Liar Vampire).

The success and ultimate film adaptation of Beth's Wattpad novel is part of a growing trend of traditional mediums (publishing, film, and television) adapting digital-first works for mainstream consumption.

CW has recently experimented with adapting Wattpad content into CW Seed pilots and shorts.

Another Wattpad author Anna Todd signed a deal in 2014 that saw the screen rights to her One Direction fan fiction novel, After, sold to Paramount Pictures.