Ida Tarbell - Mark McDevitt

#IrishAbroad: Amazon snaps up Ida Tarbell script by Irish writer Mark McDevitt

Deadline is reporting that Amazon has acquired Irish writer Mark McDevitt’s script Ida Tarbell, a biopic of the turn-of-the-century journalist which was on the 2015 Black List.

Tarbell is regarded as one of the pioneers of investigative journalism, and is best known for her 1904 book, The History of the Standard Oil Company, which was listed at No. 5 in a 1999 list by New York University of the top 100 works of 20th-century American journalism. The film follows her journey in writing this book and changing the public perception of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller.

McDevitt himself was a journalist in Ireland, writing for the The Irish Times, The Irish Independent and The Irish Examiner, before winning a green card in the US lottery and moving to New York. He has since worked in the film industry as assistant camera on a number of high-profile features including American Gangster, Spider-Man 2, Inside Man, and Munich, while trying to make his way as a writer. Ida Tarbell is his first feature script sale.

Ida Tarbell is to be produced by Tom Drumm of Think Tank Management & Production. Think Tank manager Kate Hart, who will associate produce, brought the Tarbell script into the company and represented McDevitt in the deal.