In an effort to expand its presence in Hollywood, The New York Times has named Caitlin Roper as the executive producer on all its future scripted projects. As reported via The Hollywood Reporter, Roper will be placed in charge of adapting The New York Times stories for both the big and small screens.
Roper, who’s been working as a senior editorial director with the Times since 2016, has unofficially been developing other major projects for the renowned news outlet for the past couple of months, including the 1619 Project partnership with Lionsgate, Oprah Winfrey (Selma) and Nikole Hannah-Jones; and The Jungle Prince of Delhi with Amazon, Mira Nair and Ellen Barry. Now, Roper will step into the official role of executive producer, working alongside other Hollywood producers to develop and produce Times stories into fictional projects that are inspired by the news outlets reporting. This news comes in-part from a memo that was sent out on Monday by Times‘ own assistant managing editor Sam Dolnick.
As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, Roper will also work closely with the Times documentary creative lead Kathleen Lingo, Business lead for film and TV Erik Borenstein, project managers Alana Hauser and Lauren McCarthy and VP for audio and TV Stephanie Preiss.
While no further information is available concerning future projects for the N.Y.T., their past works titled The 1619 Project and The Jungle Prince of Delhi are already reported to be in development. The 1619 Project will follow the work done by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hannah-Jones, who in her article re-examined the origins of slavery and traced its lasting legacy within this country. Both Lionsgate and Winfrey have already signed partnerships with the Times, and are fully committed to developing this story into a television or documentary series sometime in the future. Meanwhile, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barry’s own published piece titled The Jungle Prince of Delhi is also being adapted for the small screen by Amazon’s streaming service. The Jungle Prince of Delhi is an investigative story originally published by the Times that centered around the self-proclaimed royal family of Oudh, a former princely state located in the northern region of India. You can check out both of these pieces and more at the New York Times.