Peacock has landed Climbing in Heels, Emily In Paris creator Darren Star and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas‘ drama series adaptation of her upcoming novel of the same name, with a script-to-series commitment. This marks the first big sale for Star under the multi-year overall deal he signed with Universal Television last year.
Deadline first reported of Universal TV preemptively buying the rights to Climbing in Heels in December, ahead of the novel’s April 29, 2025 release via St. Martin’s Press. The adaptation was taken in January, with Universal TV sibling Peacock quickly taking it off the market with an aggressive script-to-series bid.
Star, who also created Sex and the City, and Goldsmith-Thomas will co-write and executive produce the proposed series, which he describes as the “ballsy and bawdy love child of Mad Men and Sex and the City.”
A story of friendship, betrayal, survival and ambition, Climbing In Heels follows the rise of five ambitious secretaries navigating the glitzy world of 1980s Hollywood while offering a glimpse into the boys-will-be-boys club and the women who wanted a seat at a table where they were expected to serve. It is also a cautionary tale about how some of those women became very much like the monsters they worked for.
“I’m so excited to be working with Elaine to bring her addictive novel Climbing in Heels to the screen. I can’t wait for audiences to fall in love with these audacious and ambitious young women,” Star said.
The sale of Climbing In Heels comes as Star’s hit Netflix comedy series Emily In Paris is headed to its fifth season while his TV Land comedy Younger, has been enjoying a resurgence on Netflix, spending weeks in the streamer’s U.S. Top 10.
“I am thrilled that Climbing In Heels was taken off the table so quickly by Peacock. It is the perfect home for Darren and I to bring these fabulously complicated and colorful characters to life,” said Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas.
Star’s list of hit series he has created over his career to date also includes Beverly Hills, 90210 and spinoff Melrose Place. He is repped by UTA and attorney Sam Fischer at Ziffren Brittenham.
Though fictional, Climbing In Heels draws parallels to Goldsmith-Thomas rise in Hollywood at WMA where she became a powerhouse agent representing Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Spike Lee and Nicholas Cage, among others. Goldsmith-Thomas later transitioned to being a studio head, a writer and producer of such movies as Jennifer Lopez’s Maid in Manhattan and Julia Roberts’ Mona Lisa Smile. Today, she is Lopez’s producing partner and President of the actress and pop singer’s Nuyorican Productions.
