Since Screen Gems dropped the project earlier this year, fans have been eagerly awaiting news on the film adaptation of City of Bones, the first novel of the Mortal Instruments Series.

Now it has been revealed that the new screenwriter, a new producer, and the new director are all meeting with author Cassandra Clare.

Marlene King, who rewrote the script revealed the news last week. Apparantly, Clare has already spoken to the new director and is now prepared to meet with him within the next few weeks.

The new director has also already met with the lead actors of the film adaptation, Lilly Collins who will play Clary Fray, and Jamie Campbell Bower, who is set to play Jace Wayland. And he apparently loves them both.

Clare has said that the producers have made it a point to include her in the process which has led to the new meeting with everyone.

She recently wrote this regarding the project:

I just wanted to say is that I am so glad that Marlene is meeting with the director and the producers at Constantin. I know lots of rumours have been floating around and I tend to be really quiet, but I want to make sure that when I tell you something, it’s true to the best of my knowledge. The movie industry runs on rumors and innuendo (this is why IMDB is basically useless till a movie goes into production and they lock down the page) and while things can always change, I want to be passing along info that’s as final as things in Hollywood get.

I have a little bit of news that’s exciting — and not even the news I was talking about yesteday! — I will be flying to Los Angeles from Mexico to meet with the new director. I can’t tell you who he is yet, but I’ve talked to him on the phone and he’s had a lot of great insight into the characters, really smart thoughts about the filming, and he had great thoughts about Jace, talking about how he wasn’t just an action hero, he was a layered, complex character with a lot of depth (oh and he has met with Lily and Jamie and he loves them.)

I’m excited he and the producers have made a special point to meet with me, go over concept sketches, talk about the characters and their direction — that doesn’t happen all that often with authors in Hollywood, that we get included that much. However I don’t want to jinx anything, so I’m going to be vague until things are definite. I will keep you updated as much as I can — I know it’s hard to wait; believe me, it’s hard for me, too. I’m actually really glad that we moved on from Screen Gems because things have been proceeding at enormous speed since then and I hope to have some concrete stuff to tell you soon. In the meantime I promise photos of my crazy trip to LA. 

While we aren’t sure who the new director is, they should be revealing that soon. This is definitely a big step forward for the project which has been in the works for years without moving forward. Hopefully this director will do it justice, but with the author involved, it is a good sign.