This Time Next Year: Jersey author’s book made into new film

A Jersey author has had her New York Times best-seller turned into a film and hopes her next will be shot on the island.

This Time Next Year, which features actors Sophie Cookson from Kingsman: The Secret Service and Lucien Laviscount from Emily in Paris, will be released as a film on Monday.

Author Sophie Cousens has written five books, and her second book based in Jersey is also expected to be made into a film.

She said she would “hopefully be filming here on the island”.

Ms Cousens wrote her romantic comedy novel, which will come out on Monday, as a film during the pandemic in 2020.

“What’s been really nice about it is just getting messages and emails from people saying it’s got them through a hard time, being a distraction, especially during the pandemic,” she said.

“To have a book that could really take them out of their day-to-day concerns and worries in the world.

“And just be a really light-hearted escapist read – so that’s been amazing.”

The author previously produced the Graham Norton Show, Russell Howard’s Good News, Big Brother and Ant and Dec.

Ms Cousens added: “A lot of my inspiration for writing comes from the rom com films of the 90s and early 2000s.

“Those are the films that I grew up on that I loved, like When Harry Met Sally, While You Were Sleeping and Four Weddings and a Funeral – which I think I’ve probably seen far too many times.”

Her second book Just Haven’t Met You Yet is based in Jersey and is expected to be made into a film.

She said: “I’m hoping… we’ve got a potential producer, director lined up. So nothing’s ever set in stone until the camera starts rolling. But I’m really hopeful that that’s going to happen – hopefully filming here on the island.”