The Screen Adaptation of My What If Year

Zibby Publishing Author Alisha Fernandez Miranda shares what it was like to hear the news

Embarking on My What If Year – both the actual year and the book – involved asking myself a lot of difficult questions. What about my life was making me unhappy? How far was I willing to push out of my comfort zone? What even was a catalog raisonne? How much longer could I afford to continue buying people’s affection with high-end baked goods?

But three years ago, I was asked if I would I like to option the rights to my book—and my life—to brilliant, talented, Academy Award-nominated America Ferrera. That answer was a no-brainer.

So far, the process of taking my book to the screen has been a slow one. I spend a lot of time waiting for emails. I’ve barely let myself imagine what it would be like to actually see my name in a Deadline headline, my book cover front-and-center for all of Hollywood to see.

I definitely did not imagine that when the news popped up on my screen, I would be sitting on my sofa, eating a vanilla yogurt, watching the final episode of America’s Sweethearts: Season Three. But in life, as in books, sometimes, the thing you’re waiting for doesn’t happen exactly how you expected. It’s better.

Since the film adaptation news dropped, I have been inundated with kind messages from everyone I have ever met. This is not an exaggeration. They have been 95% congratulations, 4.99% casting questions (yes, I too am voting for Oscar Isaac to play Carlos), and 0.01% “Can Brad Pitt please play me?” (The answer today, as it was when you first asked, Dad, is “I have zero say over that decision.”)

I’ve been overwhelmed by the support, so please, friends, keep it coming as this project takes shape. Hopefully, the next set of challenging questions for me will include what do I wear to the premiere? Popcorn or Sno-Caps? Or better yet, both?