SK Global Acquires Rights to Before the Coffee Gets Cold

SK Global has optioned the rights to Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s best-selling novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold to develop, finance and produce as a series with Gail Berman’s The Jackal Group.

Originally adapted from Kawaguchi’s own stage play of the same name, Before the Coffee Gets Cold centers on a cafe in a Tokyo back alley where legend says the shop offers patrons the chance to travel back in time—but only for the time it takes for their coffee to get cold.

Berman will executive produce alongside Hend Baghdady for The Jackal Group. For SK Global, co-CEOs John Penotti and Charlie Corwin will executive produce with Sidney Kimmel, co-chairman, and Marcy Ross, president of global television.

Kawaguchi said: “Although set in Japan, the themes I have explored in my work are universal—love, loss, memory, friendship, regret and redemption. And so it’s with a great sense of joy that I partner with accomplished companies SK Global and The Jackal Group, who are committed to presenting content that is international in origin and spirit and can be appreciated by people in all parts of the world. I’m so thankful for their embrace of my work, and I greatly look forward to sharing the results of our collaboration with viewers throughout the globe.”

Ross added: “Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s magical novel is a genuine page-turner; I finished it in one sitting and was completely transported into a beautiful reality of time travel and romance. To produce this adaptation alongside Hend and Gail is a dream come true.”

The Jackal Group members said: “We are thrilled to be working on this exciting series idea with our friends Marcy Ross, Charlie Corwin and John Penotti at SK Global. Mr. Kawaguchi’s bestseller explores the question, ‘If you could go back in time, who from your past would you want to meet?’ Our characters are on an emotional and spiritual journey that explores their past while coming to terms with their future.”