Photo courtesy of Alice Waddington & Paul Christian PR
Art courtesy of Neotext
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Neotext, the digital fiction imprint purpose-built to develop original IP for screen adaptation, has announced that director Alice Waddington is set to co-write and direct a feature film adaptation of Anonymous Jane, the action-spy novel published under the pen name Jack Quaid. Emmy-nominated and Taurus Award-winning action producer Philip J. Silvera joins the project as action producer and action designer. Russell Ackerman, John Schoenfelder, and Jay Schuminsky will produce for Neotext, with Range's Austin Lantero executive producing.
The announcement, which broke exclusively on Deadline, marks a notable moment for a book that spent years off the cultural radar despite its sharp, female-driven take on espionage and dark comedy. Anonymous Jane was released in 2022 with no traditional publicity, no press campaign, and no tour. Yet the novel has steadily accumulated a devoted following, earning recognition as the kind of overlooked genre gem that rewards readers bold enough to find it.
The R-rated action dramedy centers on Jane, a highly trained deep-cover operative living a fractured double life who gets pulled back into a deadly international conspiracy. The story forces her to reckon with the identities she has kept violently separate — a premise that blends psychological intensity with the propulsive energy of classic spy fiction.
The author behind Anonymous Jane is Luke Preston, writing under the pulp-inspired pseudonym Jack Quaid, a persona constructed to evoke the anarchic, paperback energy of late-20th-century genre fiction. Preston, whose work has been recognized by The Inside Film Awards, MTV and The ATOM Awards, is known for his work on Dark City Blue and Out of Exile, and his writing draws as readily from Raymond Chandler and Richard Stark as from AC/DC and Johnny Cash.
The Jack Quaid name was conceived deliberately — a fictional author with a fictional biography, designed to give Anonymous Jane the texture of a lost underground classic rather than a newly minted property.
That texture caught the attention of Neotext, whose publishing model operates on a fundamentally different logic from traditional literary imprints. Rather than acquiring existing books and hoping for screen interest, Neotext engineers original IP from inception with adaptation in mind. The company moves quickly from concept to packaging, positioning each title as a castable, high-concept vehicle designed to attract talent at the earliest possible stage. The track record speaks to the model's appeal: the producers’ previous features have drawn Jeffrey Wright (Hold the Dark), Martin Freeman (Cargo), Gary Oldman (Tau), and Tom Hardy (Capone), with Michelle Yeoh attached to Neotext’s forthcoming The Surgeon.
Waddington's attachment to Anonymous Jane reflects a unique creative alignment. The Spanish-born director made history as the first Spanish female director to premiere a debut feature at the Sundance Film Festival, where Paradise Hills — an Academy Awards-qualified Netflix EU production — screened to international attention and went on to play at 20 festivals worldwide. Her short film Disco Inferno, also Academy Awards-qualified, traveled to 70 international festivals, including Palm Springs and Sitges. Since then, she has written and directed for Amazon EU's horror anthology Stories to Keep You Awake and Warner Bros' Tales from the Woods, developed projects for Netflix and MGM Studios in the United States, and sold a television series to Disney Studios.
"This history signals a company trusted by world-class performers to support ambitious material that balances commercial reach with creative credibility," Waddington and Silvera stated jointly. "Anonymous Jane is an action romp that tonally sits between Killing Eve and The Nice Guys — and Neotext is exactly the kind of home that makes distinctive, franchise-capable projects like this possible."
Silvera brings a career defined by reframing what screen action can accomplish. His two decades of stunt work and a decade as second-unit director with the Emmy-winning Action Factory produced fight sequences that prioritized emotion-driven physicality and spatial coherence over visual effects spectacle. His credits span Deadpool I, Daredevil, Halo, and Terminator: Dark Fate. His work on Deadpool in particular helped reorient mainstream mixed martial arts toward grounded, performance-centered choreography — a sensibility that is now the dominant standard across studio tentpoles and streaming series alike.
The pairing of Waddington's emotionally precise visual worldbuilding and Silvera's kinetic, performance-first action design positions Anonymous Jane as something the current genre market rarely produces: an R-rated female-driven action film built around character rather than spectacle, developed with franchise potential from the outset.
Casting and co-production discussions are currently underway. The film has been designed from the start with franchise ambitions in the studio action space, and Neotext's existing relationships with major talent suggest that Anonymous Jane may find its audience on screen first.
Anonymous Jane is available now via Neotext at neotextcorp.com/fiction/anonymous-jane and on Goodreads at goodreads.com/book/show/60573762-anonymous-jane. The original Deadline announcement can be read at deadline.com.
For media inquiries, contact info@alicewaddington.com.
About Neotext Neotext is a digital fiction imprint that develops original IP engineered for screen adaptation, operating with low overhead and fast iteration to move concepts quickly from page to packaging. The company's productions have attracted some of the most recognized names in contemporary cinema.
About Alice Waddington Alice Waddington is an Academy-Awards qualified Spanish director and writer whose work spans international festivals, European streaming platforms, and U.S. studio development. Her debut feature, Paradise Hills, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. She is currently attached to co-write and direct Anonymous Jane for Neotext.
About Philip J. Silvera Philip J. Silvera is an Emmy-nominated and Taurus Award-winning action producer and director with two decades of stunt experience and credits including Deadpool, Daredevil, Halo, and Terminator: Dark Fate.
*Spokesperson/Contact Name: Alice Waddington
*Placeline: United States of America
*Name of Company/Organization: NEOTEXT authorizing Alice Waddington
*Website: Neotextcorp.com/fiction/anonymous-jane
*Email Address: info@alicewaddington.com
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/050162f9-7a26-4361-9986-b7d74fcb5e40
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3e7102e2-caf3-4015-ac03-cb277e48f4cf
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d75d64c4-8c86-4ffb-9a0c-3f52841f02ec
