Netflix to Produce “Ivy & Bean” Starring Keslee Blalock, Madison Skye Validum, Lidya Jewett with Elissa Down Directing.

Ivy and Bean never expected to be friends. Ivy is quiet, thoughtful, and observant. Bean is playful, exuberant, and fearless. However, sometimes an adventure reveals that opposites can become the best of friends.

Netflix has optioned the rights to Annie Barrows’ New York Times bestselling book series Ivy & Bean and will be adapted into a one-hour family film. The production will be directed by Elissa Down (Feel the Beat, The Honor List).

Cast: Keslee Blalock (Family Camp, Pulled from Darkness) as “Ivy”; Madison Skye Validum as “Bean”; Lidya Jewett (Good Girls, Feel the Beat, Nightbooks) as “Nancy”

Writer: Kathy Waugh (Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer, Molly of Denali); Jeff Stockwell (Bridge to Terabithia, A Wrinkle in Time)

Producers: Anne Brogan and Melanie Stokes (The A List, Kiss Me First, Four Kids and It); Lionsgate TV backed – Kindle Entertainment

Ivy & Bean reunites Netflix with Down after she directed the hit dance-comedy film Feel the Beat starring Sofia Carson, Wolfgang Novogratz, and also Lidya Jewett.

Ivy & Bean joins Netflix’s growing slate of live-action family films featuring kids and teens, which include He’s All That starring Addison Rae and Tanner Buchanan directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls) and Nightbooks directed by David Yarovesky (Brightburn) starring Winslow Fegley, Lidya Jewett, and Krysten Ritter. Recent releases include Skater Girl from first-time director Manjari Makijany and starring Rachel Saanchita Gupta and Shafin Patel, making their acting debuts; Finding ‘Ohana, directed by Jude Weng (Fresh Off the Boat) and starring Kea Peahu and Alex Aiono; and comedy Tall Girl, directed by Nzingha