A7SLE Films Options Female Serial Killer Tome "The Devil’s Rooming House"- Peter Facinelli

Deadline EXCLUSIVE: Peter Facinelli‘s A7SLE Films has snapped up rights to true-story saga The Devil’s Rooming House, M. William Phelps’ chronicle of early 20th century murderess Amy Archer-Gilligan. Credited as America’s most prolific female serial killer, Archer-Gilligan ran a nursing home that played host to a curiously high number of fatalities between 1907 and 1917. Most of the deaths were found to be caused by poisoning, and bulk arsenic buyer “Sister Amy” was eventually found guilty of murder. (Her story later inspired Joseph Kesselring’s 1939 play Arsenic and Old Lace and its subsequent film adaptation starring Cary Grant.)

The Devil’s Rooming House is the latest adaptation acquisition for Facinelli and A7SLE Films, who just finished production with FilmDistrict on The Last Word based on Frank Mancuso Jr.’s documentary of the same name. Facinelli’s Whitey Bulger event series, based on the book Street Soldier, is also in development. Facinelli, late of the Twilight Saga and Nurse Jackie, is currently recurring on Glee.

A7SLE’s Rob DeFranco negotiated the deal with Matthew Valentinas for Phelps. Facinelli and DeFranco are repped by APA, Intellectual Artists Management and attorney Barry Littman.