IP Picks 🔎: A '60s Manhattan Sex Cult, ex-FBI head James Comey's debut thriller
➕ 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' for the TikTok era
Welcome to The Optionist! Thanks for reading along. I’ve been thinking about a story Frank Smith told me the other day that underscored just how competitive the market for IP is. He read a story in a newspaper he thought could be developed for the screen and by the time he called the next day there were already four offers.
Of course, not every story is like that. There’s plenty of good stuff that falls under the radar — that’s what The Optionist is for. I spend a lot of time scouring newspapers and magazines looking for those articles. Often times, I have to pan through a lot of dirt to find that one gold nugget. I don’t usually yell, “Eureka!,” but I feel the elation.
This week we’ve got one of those viral news stories. It’s a feel-good story about stranded passengers — strangers to each other — teaming up to rent a van to drive the ten hours to their destination. It definitely feels like a movie. Indeed, they’ve already gotten some calls about the rights, but there’s still time to jump in if you’re interested. We’ve also got:
A new mystery series from James Comey (yes, that James Comey), who is trying his hand at fiction
A Texas Noir romantic thriller with series potential
A crazy, crazy true story about a Manhattan cult from the sixties
A novel imagining the story of a Black woman who passed as white to become a movie star, and how that secret rippled across other lives
BOOKS I LIKE (current)
Historical Drama/Cults
For fans of The Vow, Wild Wild Country and The Shrink Next Door
Potential logline: The crazy true story of a sixties commune — in Manhattan, no less — which preached that the nuclear family and monogamy were the root of society’s problems.
The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune by Alexander Stille (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2023) This is a wild story— think something like The Vow meets Mad Men, that I had never heard of,but feels like it would have currency in today's market. When we hear "sixties commune," we usually think Woodstock, not Manhattan. The Sullivan Institute was founded in the late 1950s by a maverick psychoanalyst named Saul Newton, who believed that the nuclear family and monogamy were the root of all of society’s problems. (Why does every cult seem like a grift by some dude to get laid?) It attracted many adherents — at its peak it had hundreds of followers, including some celebrities like Judy Collins (who talks about it in her memoir) and Jackson Pollack. It quickly evolved from wacky theory to radical experiment in communal living to something truly sinister, where therapists controlled their patients’ lives, from where they lived to how often they saw their children (pictured at top: Barbara Antmann, whose sister was a member of the cult, standing outside of the building belonging the Sullivanians). The organization came under increasing scrutiny and finally dissolved in 1991. Stille, a journalism prof at Columbia, does a thorough job reconstructing the story from interviews and archival research. REPS: The Wylie Agency
Thriller/Mystery
For fans of Michael Clayton
Potential logline: An ex-Army intelligence officer turned investigator at a high-powered law firm, tries to solve the murder of a woman who may be connected to her boss/secret lover.
Even When You Lie by Michelle Cruz (Crooked Lane, March 2023) There’s a lot that feels fresh in this debut romantic thriller. I love the Texas setting — it’s pitched as Texas Noir. The lead character, Reagan Reyes, an ex-army intelligence officer turned legal investigator is compelling and allows Cruz to explore the racial, ethnic and class boundaries of Dallas. (Cruz herself is a seventh-generation Texan, a former intelligence officer, and has said she feels like someone who crosses a lot of Dallas' boundaries but doesn't necessarily fit in anywhere.) It’s fun when we get out of the NY/LA orbit for investigative thrillers stories like this. Layer that onto a romance between the two lead characters and you’ve got a lot of rich world-building. The story centers on Reagan, who is also having a relationship on the down low with her boss, Cade McCarrick; it’s against firm rules, compelling them to hide it, even though they live together. When a mysterious woman who left an envelope for Cade turns up dead, Reagan finds herself drawn into the investigation of that death and another possibly connected murder, and in danger from the killer. I really like how Cruz ties the central mystery to the evolution of the Reagan/Cade relationship — investigating the killings forces the couple to think about what they mean to each other. The romantic and thriller elements really reinforce each other and would work well on the screen. It’s easy to imagine this as an ongoing series – it’s got the feel of an FX series from its recent heyday of making excellent dark crime thrillers. REPS: Crooked Lane
Legal Thriller
For fans of John Grisham and Scott Turow
Potential logline: U.S. Attorney Nora Carleton’s prosecution of a mob boss is upended when he says he has info about the recent murder of the disgraced governor, sending Nora down a dangerous road of corruption and conspiracy as investigates.
Central Park West: A Crime Novel by James Comey (Penzler, May 2023) I know some of you are going to roll your eyes at the author, former FBI Director James Comey. But this book (and any subsequent adaptation) will get attention, and anything that helps a book break through the noise is to be welcomed. Also, the book is pretty good. Here we have federal prosecutor Nora Carleton's years-long pursuit of a powerful mobster heading toward a prosecution when the defendant says he has information relating to the recent murder of a disgraced former New York governor. As Nora rushes to investigate before her case gets derailed, she finds herself caught up in web of conspiracy, corruption and danger. We've got a great plot, a strong female lead and an author who brings insanely deep experience in this world to the table. This is the debut title in what Comey hopes will be an ongoing series (there will be at least one sequel since he signed a two-book deal), so this feels like more an opportunity for TV than film to me. REPS: UTA
Hollywood Drama/Mystery
For fans of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Passing
Potential logline: When white screen legend Kitty Karr leaves her estate to three Black sisters, it sets in motion the unraveling of secrets that stretch back to the dark days of the Jim Crow South.
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul (Henry Holt, May 2023) Here’s a fab story that mixes Hollywood glam with a timely exploration of race and identity and the legacy of the segregated South that would make a compelling limited series. When white movie star Kitty Karr Tate dies, she mysteriously leaves her estate to her neighbor, an up-and-coming Black actress Elise St. John and her two sisters. The question is why? And what's her connection to a secret group of women who donate money to Black causes? Elise discovers a secret in Kitty's journals that rocks her world. The story flashes back to Kitty's story in the segregated South, how she passed as white and how she became a star, even as she remained ever fearful of her secret being discovered. There's a mystery here, of course, but Paul, a UCLA film school grad making her debut as a novelist, is good at exploring ideas of identity and the enduring legacy of racism in this country. And there are interesting roles for the right actresses here in Kitty and the St. John sisters. REPS: APA
JOURNALISM
Feel-Good Fun
For fans of Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Potential logline: When their flight is canceled, thirteen strangers trapped at an airport rent a van to road trip to their destination, bonding along the way.
“Their flight was canceled, so 13 strangers got in a van and drove 652 miles” by Cathy Free (Washington Post, Dec. 13) What a fun story with all the best Planes, Trains and Automobile feels. On Dec. 4, a Frontier Airlines flight from Orlando, Fla. to Knoxville, Tenn. was canceled and the passengers were told there wouldn't be another flight for 48 hours. Thirteen passengers, all strangers, banded together, chipped in $60 each, rented a van, and proceeded to drive the 10 hours to Knoxville. Passengers included a woman traveling with her mother and godmother; a food educator who bills herself as “The Farm Babe” rushing to make a speaking engagement; a minister; a father and his high school-age daughter going to check out the University of Tennessee. Story, the 23-year-old traveling with her mother and godmother, posted about the trip on TikTok which, along with her en-route updates, went viral. No one slept as they bonded and confessed intimate details about their lives, hopes and aspirations. They also laughed and had so much fun, they're planning a reunion at one of the passenger’s vacation homes in Cozumel, Mexico. And they've already gotten some calls from people in Hollywood REPS: I picked The Washington Post version of this story but it was reported all over. Who you really want is the passengers, starting with Story, who can be found on TikTok, and Michelle Miller, who can be found on Instagram under thefarmbabe.