This evening, a slew of big-league journalists will host a packed book party—more than 200 have RSVP’d—to celebrate new author Kate Andersen Brower at Sidecar, the private dining room at P.J. Clarke’s. Hosts such as Meet the Press anchor Chuck Todd, Bloomberg’s Margaret Talev, and the Wall Street Journal’s Carol Lee plan to toast the release of Brower’s new book, The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, which has already gotten a good deal of buzz since it went on sale two weeks ago because of juicy backstairs accounts of First Families (and especially those feuding, cheating Clintons). The Residence will debut at No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list this weekend and is currently sold out on Amazon.

That all would be reason enough to celebrate, but The KGB File has learned Brower has even more to announce: She just closed a deal with Trigger Street, Kevin Spacey’s production company ( House of Cards, Captain Phillips, The Social Network), for the film/TV rights to The Residence. Brower’s book agent, D.C.-based Howard Yoon, and television agent, Jody Hotchkiss, stationed in New York, closed the six-figure deal. The plan for the show is a modern and fictional 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue spin on Downton Abbey, wherein the White House’s butlers, stewards, maids and the like are the stars, often more committed to the mansion and upholding its historic traditions than to the family who lives there.


Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly may join the project as a producer, along with Trigger Street President Dana Brunetti and Spacey himself. “Television producer” is a new avenue for Kelly, who overlapped with Brower, a former Bloomberg correspondent, when Kelly was in D.C. covering the Supreme Court. When contacted yesterday, a Fox News spokesperson said that conversations about Kelly’s role were still ongoing.