Once upon a time it was books and TV shows that were the hot source material for movies. They haven't gone away, but like a thoroughbred race horse, podcasts have been galloping up in popularity, spawning TV spin-offs and films galore. The latest to find a new home is buzzy true mystery tale S-Town, which now has Spotlight's Tom McCarthy aboard to direct.
Originally launched as a podcast by the team behind popular radio story series This American Life, S-Town was hosted by Brian Reed and followed the story of a man named John who despises his Alabama home town (you can figure out what he means when he calls it "S-town"), and decides to do something about it. Asking Reed to investigate someone in the town who has been allegedly bragging about getting away with murder, the story further twists when someone else turns up dead, leading to family disputes, hidden treasure and the unraveling of mysteries surrounding one man's life.
Participant Media picked up the rights, and has playwright Samuel Hunter in talks to work on the script, which we figure McCarthy, who was an Oscar winner for Spotlight, will have a hand in.
And for anyone interested, the rights to the Empire Podcast are fully available. It's a compelling tale of terrible puns, ear-worm theme tunes for films that absolutely did not need them, blatant Marvel worship and celebrity impressions Genre: horror.
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