Q&A: Behind the movie deal on one reporter’s investigation into Purdue and the Sacklers
Los Angeles-based 101 Studios recently announced its plan to finance and distribute a feature film about investigative reporter David Armstrong — formerly of STAT, and now at ProPublica — and how he has worked for years to uncover how the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma contributed to the opioid crisis through aggressive marketing of its drug OxyContin. I spoke with Gita Pullapilly and Aron Gaudet, the screenwriters behind this new project, to learn more.
What inspired you to pursue this story?
Pullapilly: We had stumbled across the news articles a few years ago, and we were so impressed by the storytelling and the writing. These stories are just pretty incredible — the investigative reporting is fascinating, but also so detailed and specific. We both come from journalism, and it’s hard to impress journalists, but we were so taken by it.
What are you hoping to impart?
Gaudet: I don’t know if we’ll ever tackle a more important story because of how many lives [the opioid crisis] has affected. It’s so hard to keep people’s attention — they may read an article here and there, but if we can get them into a movie theater for two hours and really lay out the story in a very linear, cohesive way for them to understand [because] it’s really important for everyone to know the truth.
Pullapilly: It’s inspiring to us to see what it takes to figure out the truth — and it can take years to do that.
What inspired you to pursue this story?
Pullapilly: We had stumbled across the news articles a few years ago, and we were so impressed by the storytelling and the writing. These stories are just pretty incredible — the investigative reporting is fascinating, but also so detailed and specific. We both come from journalism, and it’s hard to impress journalists, but we were so taken by it.
What are you hoping to impart?
Gaudet: I don’t know if we’ll ever tackle a more important story because of how many lives [the opioid crisis] has affected. It’s so hard to keep people’s attention — they may read an article here and there, but if we can get them into a movie theater for two hours and really lay out the story in a very linear, cohesive way for them to understand [because] it’s really important for everyone to know the truth.
Pullapilly: It’s inspiring to us to see what it takes to figure out the truth — and it can take years to do that.
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