5/6/2014 The New York Times
LOS ANGELES — An Oscar-winning screenwriter, a billionaire film financier and a well-known magazine editor have come together to form a movie and television company built on a journalism foundation.
Mark Boal, a former magazine reporter who wrote and produced “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” which earned him four Oscar nominations and two wins, has spoken for years about a desire to systemize what he calls “front-page art” — movies and TV shows based on deep-dive reporting into current events.
“I want to marry up screenwriters with reporters,” he said in 2012 while promoting “Zero Dark Thirty,” which examined the killing of Osama bin Laden. “That’s assuming that this film does O.K. If it bombs, forget I said any of this.”
It became a hit, of course, taking in $132.8 million worldwide, and Mr. Boal finally has a company to carry out his vision: Page 1, which opened for business last week. Megan Ellison, the Oracle heiress who has helped finance and produce films like “American Hustle” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” has committed to “substantial” funding, Mr. Boal said.
Hugo Lindgren, who stepped down as editor of The New York Times Magazine late last year and previously worked at New York magazine, has joined Page 1 as its president. Mr. Lindgren will be based in New York.
Mr. Boal said, “The goal is to dig out substantive stories that tell us something about who we are as a people and as a nation.” He cited his own films as examples, as well as dramas like “Wall Street,” “Silkwood,” “The Social Network” and “12 Years a Slave.”
The arrival of Page 1 coincides with a growing thirst by audiences for visceral, nonmanufactured stories with the rise of Vice Media, known for stunt journalism, as a primary example. Recent hit movies in this vein have included “Lone Survivor” and “Captain Phillips.” But most studios are deeply reluctant to bet on these kinds of scripts, preferring to funnel money toward less risky comedies and fantasy films.
Mr. Boal, who is writing a current-events screenplay for his frequent collaborator Kathryn Bigelow to direct — he declined to be more specific — said that Page 1 would commission original reporting and buy rights to published books and articles.
Page 1’s initial projects include a film based on a Men’s Journal article about organized fighting in a Thai prison. Page 1 is in final talks with the writer Wells Tower to turn that article into a screenplay. Mr. Tower and the article’s author, Matthew Shaer, are returning to Thailand for more reporting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/business/media/new-venture-envisions-films-based-on-gritty-journalism.html?emc=eta1