EXCLUSIVE: In search for its next YA hit, Amazon MGM Studios is betting on a project that combines key elements of its biggest hit in the genre, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and its latest YA breakout, We Were Liars. The studio is developing Genuine Fraud, an adaptation of the bestseller by We Were Liars author E. Lockhart, which has The Summer I Turned Pretty standout Rain Spencer attached to star and executive produce and one of the TSITP writers, , as creator.

Written by Daly, Genuine Fraud centers on a social chameleon (Spencer) who reinvents herself as the best friend of a wealthy heiress, then assumes her “friend’s” life when she goes missing.

Daly, Spencer and Lockhart executive produce alongside Patrick Moran and Lynley Bird of PKM Production. Moran and Bird brought the project to Amazon Studios under PKM Productions’ first-look deal with the studio.

With Genuine Fraud, Spencer has become the first The Summer I Turned Pretty star to headline a new series following the blockbuster success of TSITP, which just wrapped its third and final season.

Spencer started as a recurring in Season 1, playing Belly’s (Lola Tung) best friend Taylor. She quickly became a fan favorite, becoming a series regular in Season 2, with Taylor and Steven’s (Sean Kaufman) love story getting a devoted fan following amid the Belly love triangle frenzy.

It is unclear yet whether Spencer will be back for the recently announced TSITP follow-up movie but that is considered likely. She will next be seen leading Big Girls Don’t Cry, the debut film from New Zealand-based musician Paloma Schneideman, and the first film to come from Jane Campion’s directing lab.

Spencer recently wrapped Sarah Elizabeth Mintz’s follow-up to Good Girl Jane, which won Best US Narrative Feature at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, with her winning Best Performance. She is repped by UTA, Range Media Partners and Yorn Levine.

Daly created and is showrunning Netflix’s animated series adaptation of Midnight Sun, the latest book in the Twilight saga. In addition to her work on TSITP, where she wrote Season 3 episode “The Last Call,” she staffed on Hulu’s Tell Me Lies. Daly also wrote the feature Anya’s Ghost for Amblin and the Muschiettis and is currently writing the book for the stage musical adaptation of Can’t Hardly Wait. She is repped by WME, Kaplan/Perrone, and attorney Ashley Silver.

Lockhart’s novel We Were Liars became a TikTok sensation and was adapted into the Prime Video series, on which she serves as executive producer, writing the much-talked-about Season 1 finale. After a breakout first season, We Were Liars has been renewed for a second season. Lockhart’s third book in the Liars universe, We Fell Apart, will be published by Random House in November. She is repped by Verve, The Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency, Anonymous Content and Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks.

Moran serves as an executive producer on USA Network’s legal drama The Rainmaker, based on the John Grisham book. Prior to launching PKM Productions, Moran was President of ABC Studios. Moran is repped by Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light.