Staff Blog
Hot off the presses: You oughta be in pictures?!
posted by Molly Eichel
On Monday, Variety reported that the New York Times is getting into the motion picture business. Not only do they have a deal with HBO to turn their Modern Love column into a series a la Sex and the City, but they’ve also struck up a first look deal with Columbia Pictures, which essentially means Columbia gets first dibs on all Modern Love-related projects. (Modern Love, for those who skip the Sunday Styles, is column about various love stories — both happy and sad — written by someone new each week.)
I missed that the NYTimes signed with agency ICM and have been licensing pieces left and right. From the Variety piece:
Among the recent NYT content deals was the recent story of immigrant students planning a prom, which Jenny Lumet is scripting for Miramax; an article about a 12-year-old wannabe food critic that Lorne Michaels is developing at Paramount; and one about a small college football team paid to be crushed by bigger schools, which Universal is developing with Jack Black. None of the development projects has yet turned into a movie.
Obviously specific newspaper pieces have been licensed for movies before. Former Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Mark Bowden’s Killing Pablo 31-part series — about the takedown of drug lord Pablo Escobar — has been in development with the likes of Christian Bale and Chris Pine attached a various points (although, I’m sure it was the book that was licensed so the Inquirer most likely saw none of that scratch). Not to mention The Soloist, based on the book/columns of erstwhile Inky writer Steve Lopez. But I’ve never heard of a newspaper signing with an agency before, never mind singing a first look deal.
My real question is, especially with Modern Love, who is getting the pay day here? Is it the writer? The subject? Or the paper? The subject obviously will get some cash because most based-on-truth biopics need to buy life rights in order to go into production. And it’s the writer who came up with the story. But where does the Times come in? Are they doing it for the publicity? Are they taking credit because they were the platform for publication? Or is it just a cash grab in light of newsroom cuts that will let 100 reporters go?
It also got me thinking about other news-related movies. I’m sure Isaiah Thompson could develop an entire epic about his adventures with Daily News columnist Christine “Chupacabra” Flowers. Maybe we could start licensing Bell Curve or something and I could finally gold plate my office like I’ve always wanted.
