Released last week, Tony Award-winning producer Vivek J. Tiwary’s graphic novel "The Fifth Beatle" relates the story of early Beatles manager Brian Epstein.

Plucking them from obscurity, Epstein developed the Beatles' signature early look (including those haircuts) and launched them in the USA.

According to Tiwary, Epstein faced many obstacles. He and the Beatles came from the downtrodden city of Liverpool. He was Jewish in a time of routine British anti-Semitism. And he was gay when it was actually illegal to be so. But that didn’t stop him from shaping the Beatles into the biggest band in the world.

Tiwary, who discusses his project with IBTimesTV here, also recently announced that Oscar award-winning producer Bruce Cohen will be producing a feature length adaptation of the graphic novel. A director has not yet been named, but Tiwary said shooting is expected to begin sometime next summer.