EXCLUSIVE: After locking a docuseries based on Oceangate and the submersible tragedy, MindRiot Entertainment has now set a fiction project, also based on the tragedy, with E. Brian Dobbins (The Blackening, Black-ish) signed on to co-produce.
The fiction project currently shares the title Salvaged with MindRiot’s docuseries.
MindRiot’s Justin MacGregor and Jonathan Keasey will co-write the pic. We understand the feature’s scope will cover periods before, during, and after the five-day tragedy, which claimed five lives. Oceangate’s Titan submersible vanished on June 18, setting off a massive search led by the U.S. and Canada. The passengers included OceanGate CEO, Stockton Rush. Wreckage from the Titan was found on June 22 near the Titanic.
“The Titan Tragedy is yet another example of a misinformed and quick-to-pounce system, in this case, our nonstop, 24-7 media cycle that convicts and ruins the lives of so many people without any due process,” said Keasey, a licensed lawyer-turned filmmaker.
“Our film will not only honor all those involved in the submersible tragedy, and their families, but the feature will serve as a vessel that also addresses a more macro concern about the nature of media today.”
He added: “Truth is all that matters. And the world has a right to know the truth, always, not the salacious bait crammed down our throats by those seeking their five minutes of fame. Life is not black and white. It’s complicated. There’s nuance. Always nuance.”
The pic is part of MindRiot’s upcoming slate of docuseries projects, including a project in development based around Seattle’s underground rap scene. The company recently opened an Irish office headed by MacGregor, who is also head of film at Trinity College, Dublin. MindRiot’s staff also includes COO Randa Minkarah. She is the former head of Business Development at North America’s Fisher Communications, where she led sales teams for ABC, Fox, and Univision.
