The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Principal photography began May 17 on location in Santorini, Greece, for Alcon Entertainment’s coming-of-age adventure The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, based on Ann Brashares’ best-selling novel about a special 16th summer in the lives of four lifelong friends.

Directed by Emmy Award-nominated Ken Kwapis (Malcolm in the Middle), from a screenplay by Delia Ephron (You’ve Got Mail) and Elizabeth Chandler (What a Girl Wants), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants stars Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrara and Blake Lively as four 16-year-old best friends who are separated for the first time.

On a last shopping trip together, the girls find a pair of thrift-shop jeans that fits each of them perfectly and they decide to use these “magic” pants as a way of keeping in touch over the months ahead, each girl wearing the jeans for a week to see what luck they bring her before sending them on to the next. Though miles apart, the four friends still experience life, love and loss together in a summer they’ll never forget.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants also stars Nancy Travis, Bradley Whitford and Jenna Boyd and will be produced by Debra Martin Chase (The Princess Diaries), Denise Di Novi (A Walk to Remember, Catwoman), Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove (Chasing Liberty). Alison Greenspan, Leslie Morgenstein and Kira Davis serve as executive producers, with Christine Sacani, Steven P. Wegner and Melissa Wiechmann as co-producers.

After wrapping in Greece, production on The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants will continue in and around Vancouver and Mexico.

Set for a 2005 release, the film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.