Anatomy of a Megadeal: How Flight Attendant-Turned-Novelist T.J. Newman Sparked a Hollywood Bidding War for ‘Drowning’

Three years ago, T.J. Newman was handing out peanuts and pouring drinks for airplane passengers. Last month, she was hustling between Zoom calls with Nicole Kidman and Jerry Bruckheimer as they tried to outbid each other for the rights to Drowning, her upcoming novel about a jetliner that crashes into the ocean. Its all part of an improbable Cinderella story thats taken Newman, a flight attendant-turned-bestselling writer, from manning first-class cabins to becoming one of Hollywoods most in-demand talents.

Newman admits she still hasnt accepted her change in fortunes. Any time I board a plane, I still want to get up and collect trash or help someone put their bag in an overhead bin, she says. I have to remind myself: You can sit and order a drink instead of serving it.

These days, she can spring for Champagne. Landing the movie rights to Drowning triggered an all-out bidding war, one that drew interest from the likes of Kidman, Alfonso Cuarn and Steven Spielberg, along with seven-figure offers from Apple and Bruckheimer, Paramount and Damien Chazelle, Legendary, Universal Television, and Warner Bros.

There was an eight-hour period where I never hung up my phone, says Shane Salerno, Newmans agent. People would call my landline, and Id put them on mute while I answered a call from another bidder on my cellphone. Id get an offer and before we had a chance to counter, theyd text me and raise it.

For Newman, the adulation had its share of unexpected hurdles. Shane would call and say we need to get on a Zoom with Nicole Kidman in 15 minutes, and Id go, Oh, my God, I have to wash my hair. It also meant confessing to Bruckheimer, the producer of Top Gun: Maverick, that she caught the Tom Cruise sequel in theaters eight times.

I saw it with my friends on opening night, went out to dinner and then went back and saw it a second time because I loved it so much, she says.

Yet it was Warner Bros. andnot Bruckheimer who prevailed after agreeing to pay $1.5 million for the rights and an additional $1.5 million on the first day of production. The studio also brought the Drowning author on as an executive producer.

Most writers wait a lifetime to get that kind of payday. But whats extraordinary is that its the second time in two years that Newman has been the center of a fevered auction. Falling, her debut novel about a pilot pressured to crash his plane after his family is kidnapped by terrorists, sold to Universal Pictures for $1.5million. That was after more than a dozen producers and studios submitted bids, including Fast and Furious producer Neal Moritz, Ozark creator Jason Bateman and The Batman director Matt Reeves. As part of that deal, Newman is writing the screenplay. Its hard to believe that just a few years ago, in the first flush of success from robust sales for Falling, that Newmans mother was convinced her daughter shouldnt quit her day job and risk losing her perk of flying for free.

You never know with this entertainment stuff, she warned. But after Falling sold its movie rights, her mom relented and agreed that Newman should devote herself full time to her new career.

Even as Newman enjoys her financial freedom, she remembers the rejection she faced. Before becoming a flight attendant, she tried to make it as an actress in New York. But that dream didnt pan out, forcing her to move back to her parents home.

Im an overnight success story if overnight takes two decades, she says.

And when she got more invested in her writing, penning her first novel on red-eye flights as passengers slept, she grappled with the indifference of publishers. By the time she submitted the manuscript for Falling to Salernos The Story Factory, Newman had been turned down by more than 40 companies. She had reached the fuck-it phase and included a handwritten note that caught Salernos attention with its brashness. She told him her book would be a best-seller, and she hoped hed be smart enough to see it.

I had nothing left to lose, she admits. It was a Hail Mary pass.