Deadline reports that after an intense bidding war against multiple outlets, Apple has won the rights to Nathaniel Rich’s story Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change that was published on August 1 in a special issue of New York Times Magazine. Apple is developing the article into a TV series.
Losing Earth follows the story of a small group of American scientists, activists, and politicians who, between 1979 and 1989, tried to save the world from the ravages of climate change before it was too late.
The story was produced with the support of a non-profit journalism organization, the Pulitzer Center. Losing Earth is based on more than 18 months of original reporting, a hundred+ interviews, and thousands of archival documents, many previously unknown, from government and industry sources. In recounting the story of the decisive decade when humankind first gained a broad understanding of global warming, Rich’s story raises difficult questions about human nature and the moral dimensions of climate change.
The series will be produced by Anonymous Content. Rich and CEO of Anonymous Steven Golin (Spotlight) are the executive producers of the project.
Rich (Odds Against Tomorrow, The Mayor’s Tongue) will also have an upcoming book based on Losing Earth that is expected to be publish in 2019 by MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The book will have a more expanded narrative and a broader discussion of the current and future state of the climate crisis.
Apple currently has a lot of TV series that are in development such as Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko which is an international drama that will be told in three different languages; John M. Chu’s drama based on Hilde Lysiak life starring Brooklynn Prince; Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day’s untitled comedy series; and Ron Moore’s space drama which stars Joel Kinnaman.
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