Epix set for Fiasco with podcast adaptation

US cablenet Epix has greenlit a documentary series about politics, power and uncertainty, based on Leon Neyfakh’s Fiasco podcast.

Leon Neyfakh

The six-parter, which comes from Neyfakh’s Prologue Projects and Left/Right, is currently in production and will debut on Epix in 2021.

Neyfakh will host the docuseries, which marks the second partnership for Neyfakh, Left/Right and Epix, following Slow Burn, which looked at the Watergate scandal.

In Fiasco, Neyfakh will look at the day-to-day reality of the US’s most pivotal historical events, bringing to life the forgotten twists and turns of the past while shedding light on the present.

Season one will tell the story of the Iran-Contra affair, the Cold War-era debacle – involving a secret war in Nicaragua and an arms-for-hostages deal with Iran – that almost took down the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

Neyfakh, Andrew Parsons and Steven Fisher serve as executive producers, along with Ken Druckerman, Banks Tarver and John Marks for Left/Right, a Red Arrow Studios company.

Neyfakh started his reporting career at the New York Observer before joining The Boston Globe. At Slate, he wrote about the criminal justice system before co-creating Slow Burn with Andrew Parsons.

He is also the author of The Next Next Level, a critically acclaimed book about the choice between life as an artist and the stability of a nine-to-five job.