IP Picks🔎: Locked-Room Murder Mysteries and Deceit Galore!
➕ a satirical road-trip and the con man who became America's most successful undercover drug agent
Welcome to The Optionist. As always, thanks for reading along.
A number of you wrote me agreeing with my comments last week about the value of using this time when the industry is shut down with strikes to scout future projects. But many of you have also communicated your anxiety about the situation and fears that if it drags on for a long time, the business could be irreparably damaged. I hear you. Heck, in my darkest moments, I succumb to some of the same worries.
But overall I remain hopeful — even optimistic — that the strike will be settled soon and even more optimistic about the business in general. Between Covid and the strike, this has been a long period where Hollywood has been unsettled and uncertain. I'm hopeful that once the strikes are settled and new ground rules are established for writers and actors, bursts of creativity will be unleashed. Also, even with retrenchment, the demand for content remains historically high. And seriously, I think superhero fatigue is going to open up opportunities for other kinds of original and meaningful material (like what you find in The Optionist each week).
All this is way of saying, even though I, too, feel passing anxiety about the strike (and worry about the impact on my many friends in the business, including my AD brother and his showrunner partner who just had a baby), I’m actually more fired up to do The Optionist than I’ve ever been, because I really believe that somewhere down the road someone will say, “I was down in the dumps during the strike, but I kept looking and you know what? That’s where I found this hit.” For most of us, there’s nothing we can do about the strike right now except plan for the future.
This week’s picks include two hilarious satires from famous authors (not known for their comedic chops) and a locked-room mystery set in the world of South Asian immigrants. Also:
A road trip comedy that satirizes 2020s America about a disgraced journalist turned JCPenney manager who robs a bank, kidnaps a teller and sets out on a cross-country road trip to get revenge on those who wronged him.
A locked-room murder mystery featuring a South Asian family trapped in their Houston home during Hurricane Harvey who find that one of them is a murderer.
Another locked-room murder mystery, this one centered on a group of college friends snowed in during their 25th reunion.
A period true-crime thriller about a con man who became the most successful undercover drug agent of the 1950s.
A hilarious political satire from an acclaimed New Yorker writer.
A true-crime drama about the oddest $500M criminal enterprise you’ve ever encountered.