Jeff Maysh on optioning dozens of his magazine stories to film and TV production companies and the roots of his interest in crime

Simon and Rachel speak with the journalist Jeff Maysh. Jeff's work, specialising in narrative non-fiction with cinematic structure, and focusing on untold true stories, has appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Bloomberg Businessweek and the Financial Times. With over 30 stories in development for film and television, he's been called "the most optioned writer working today". His story from 2018 about the McDonalds Monopoly fraud became the subject of a bidding war, won by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for a record $1 million. Jeff has projects in development at studios and streamers including Netflix, Fox Searchlight and Universal, and he has recently launched a course teaching non-fiction writers how to apply screenwriting techniques to longform storytelling and navigate optioning their work to the entertainment industry. We spoke to Jeff about moving from British to American journalism, developing his pipeline of articles to film and TV, and the roots of his interest in crime.

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We’ve also made (yet) another update for those ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠who support the podcast on the crowdfunding site Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We’ve added a further 70 pages of new material to the package of successful article pitches that goes to anyone who supports the show with $5 per month or more, including new pitches to the New Yorker, Bloomberg Businessweek, and the Guardian Long Read. The whole compendium now runs to a magisterial 230 pages. For Patreons who contribute $10/month we’re now also releasing bonus mini-episodes. Other Patreon rewards include signed copies of the podcast book and the opportunity to take part in a call with Simon and Rachel.

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