Toni Collette to Make Directorial Debut With Adaptation of ‘Writers and Lovers’ Collette and Nick Payne are writing the screenplayBeatrice Verhoeven | March 11, 2021 @ 8:00 AM Last Updated: March 11, 2021 @ 9:28 AM CAA/Topic Studios Toni Collette will make her feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Lily King’s New York Times best-seller “Writers and Lovers” for Topic Studios. She will also write the screenplay with Nick Payne (“Wanderlust,” “The Crown”). Collette, who also brought the book to the studio, will produce under her Vocab Films banner alongside Susannah Grant (“Unbelievable”) and Sarah Timberman (“Masters of Sex,” “Unbelievable”). Michael Bloom, Maria Zuckerman and Ryan Heller will executive produce for Topic Studios