Cecelia Ahern secures €1m film rights deal

The Taoiseach's younger daughter, Ms Cecelia Ahern, has secured a deal worth up to €1 million with Warner Brothers for the film rights to her debut novel.

The sale comes just weeks after the 21-year-old Dubliner landed sucessive book deals in the UK and US worth up to €1.3 million for the publication of her first work, PS I Love You, and a follow-up novel.

Confirming the latest windfall, Ms Ahern's agent, Ms Marianne Gunn O'Connor, said they had received a number of offers from film producers and chose the one which was most committed to the project. "Often rights are auctioned, and it never leads to a movie. I wanted a producer that was passionate about the book," she said.

Of Warner Brothers, producer of the Harry Potter movies, she said: "They called Cecelia directly and said they were so impressed. These people don't buy a lot, and what they do buy they intend to use. They felt this would be a big movie."

Ms Gunn O'Connor is to meet one of the company's senior producers in London this week. She said they hoped to see the story on screen within about two years, while the novel itself is to be published first in the UK in February 2004.

Warner Brothers is understood to have agreed to pay a minimum of €500,000 for the film rights, rising to double that under a profit-sharing arrangement and bonuses.