Screenwriter Billy Ray to Adapt F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Last Tycoon'

American screenwriter Billy Ray is teaming up with HBO to develop  F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished novel for the small screen, titled The Last Tycoon.

Ray is set to write, executive produce, and eventually direct if the project moves that far. Party of Five executive producer Chris Keyser will executive produce and serve as showrunner.

According to Deadline, "The Last Tycoon centers on Stahr, Hollywood’s first wunderkind studio executive in the 1930′s as he climbs to the height of power pitting him against his mentor and current head of the studio Pat Brady, a character based on Louis B. Mayer. With Stahr as a focal point, the series delves into  the true violence, sex and towering ambition of Hollywood in the 30′s."

This is the novel that Fitzgerald was working on at the time of his death. After his friend Edmund Wilson collected the notes, the work was published in 1941.

Ray has written more than a dozen films, including Captain Phillips, The Hunger Games, State of Play and Flight Plan. Last week, The Writer's Guild of America selected him along with Chip Johannessen as co-chairs of its negotiating committee.

In September, Ray's film Captain Phillips premiered at The New York Film Festival. According to examiner.com, Ray had this to say to reporters on the festival red carpet: "Here was a movie made in the 70's, Robert DeNiro starred in it. But this will be television...The book is spectacular and we're gonna have years to tell the story, we're going to be able to tell it like it's a novel and we get to write that novel. Fitzgerald died when he was writing it and we get to finish it for him. It's a great opportunity."

In other novel-to-film adaptation news, MGM has chosen Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber to adapt the best-selling novel by Jojo Moyes, titled Me Before You. Check out the ScreenCraft article here.