Plain White T's' 'Hey There Delilah' to Be Adapted For TV

Lively McCabe Entertainment will collaborate with Grammy and Tony Award nominees Plain White T's to develop a television adaptation of the band's chart-topping song "Hey There Delilah." Described as a contemporary fairy tale expanding on the story within the song, the concept is from T's front man and songwriter Tom Higgenson, writer Jeremy Desmon (Pump Up The Volume, One Hit Wonder), and Lively McCabe's Michael Barra, with Desmon attached to write. Primary Wave's Deb Klein is attached to produce.

The song, written by Higgenson and published by Warner Chappell Music, was originally released in 2006 where it spent 35 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 including multiple weeks at number one. "Hey There Delilah" has enjoyed a long extended life due to its extensive licensing; including being featured in episodes of "Orange is the New Black," "Family Guy," and "Sesame Street," among others. The lyrics tell the tale of a long-distance flirtation between a struggling singer-songwriter and a New York City university student. The songwriter pledges to write a song for the young woman on the night they meet, and that promise changes their lives in unexpected ways.

"It's been more than a decade since 'Hey There Delilah' was released, and people always ask me about it. A whole lot of people really connected with that song, and I'm very proud of that,
says Tom Higgenson. "I'm so excited to have an opportunity to give a new generation the chance to form their own connection with the song, and fall in love with its story through this new project."

"'Hey There Delilah' is a perfect example of an iconic story song that has introduced characters and a premise to a massive multi-generational audience, and is begging to be expanded into a full-length story for contemporary television audiences," says Lively McCabe Entertainment's Co-President Michael Barra. "Lively McCabe is thrilled to be working with Tom, Deb and Jeremy to bring it to life on the screen."

Plain White T's are an American rock band from Lombard, Illinois, formed in 1997 by Tom Higgenson, Dave Tirio and Ken Fletcher. Their chart-topping hit song "Hey There Delilah", from their 2005 album "All That We Needed," achieved platinum status in 2007 and earned two Grammy nominations, for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Their other albums include "Come on Over" (2000), "Stop" (2002), "Every Second Counts" (2006), "Big Bad World" (2008), "Wonders of the Younger" (2010), "American Nights" (2015), and the upcoming "Parallel Universe," being released on August 24, 2018. The band also received a Tony nomination in 2018 for the song "BFF," their contribution to the score of SpongeBob SquarePants. The band is managed by Deb Klein at Primary Wave. plainwhitets.com.

Lively McCabe Entertainment is led by producer Michael Barra and co-founder Katie Dietz. The company specializes in packaging and adapting iconic intellectual property into new stories for theater, film/TV, and book publishing; and are represented by Max Grossman and Brad Rosenfeld at Abrams Artists Agency and Adam Cooper at Jackoway Tyerman. Visit: livelymccabe.com.

Photo Credit: Colin Lane

To post a comment, you must register and login.