Now that his work polishing up the first Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire is long behind him, Simon Beaufoy has turned his attention to other things. But he’s sticking with novel adaptations, scripting a version of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk for Film 4.

Written by Ben Fountain and set in 2005, the excellent book follows the titular character, a 19 year-old Texan who chronicles the final few hours before he and the other members of his infantry troop return to the war in Iraq.

But while it’s naturally a heartstring-tugger, it’s also described as hilarious and poignant.

Production company The Ink Factory is shepherding it through development right now, and there’s unlikely to be a director attached until spring 2013 at the earliest. But given the presence of Beaufoy’s Oscar-winning keyboard skills and the novel’s reception, we’d expect it to find a willing megaphone-wielder without much trouble.

Along with Catching Fire (due November 22 next year), Beaufoy has also written an original script, tornado thriller Black Sky, which should swirl into our cinemas at some point in the coming months.