Universal Pictures is in negotiations to acquire the rights to make a feature-length movie based on the popular book series Sweet Valley High. If the deal works out smoothly, the studio already has Juno and Jennifer’s Body writer Diablo Cody in line to pen the adaption. Cody set the project in motion with Mason Novick, who together went looking for the rights and made their pitch to Universal. Cody and Novick would also be producing along with Marc Platt.

Cody has settled into a groove where high school kids are a prime element to her stories. Juno, Jennifer’s Body, and her Showtime series The United States of Tara all have characters who are dealing with that time in their lives, so this would certainly be a fitting project for her, though some may want to see her spread her wings and fly a little.

Sweet Valley High revolves around two twin sisters named Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield who are polar opposites of themselves: one a good girl who works hard on trying to become a journalist; the other a resident flirt and cheerleader who gets into more trouble.

The series was started in 1983 by Francine Pascal, who gathered a team of ghostwriters and churned out over 150 books over the years — the last of which hit in 2003. The series has also seen multiple spin-offs transpire.

[Source: THR]