Yahoo Movies Bumbling Kidnapping Plot Of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Captured In Series & Podcast In The Works From ‘Chameleon’ Producer Campside
EXCLUSIVE: Campside Media, the company behind the popular Chameleon podcast series, which documented the story of the Hollywood Con Queen, has lined up its next project – the story of the wild kidnapping attempt of Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer.
The story, which is based on reporting from Ken Bensinger and Jessica Garrison, is being lined up as the sixth season of the Chameleon podcast.
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However, in a new twist, the company is also simultaneously developing a television adaptation and has teamed up with Jeremy Miller and Daniel Cohn, who have worked on shows such as Ally McBeal and Entourage, to pen the small-screen adaptation.
The Michigan Plot details exactly what happened beyond the initial headlines that told the world the FBI had narrowly thwarted a kidnapping attempt against the governor of Michigan. What the Justice Department called the first step towards ‘The Big Boogaloo’ – a long-awaited civil war that would overthrow the government – turned out to be something very different once Garrison and Bensinger started digging in.
Far from disciplined killers, the men accused of the heinous crime were in fact loudmouth stoner goofballs who spun wild fantasies, focused largely on bodybuilding and drinking beer, and in some cases seemed blissfully unaware that they were even engaged in a plot at all. One lived in the basement of a vacuum cleaner store and had to go to the Mexican restaurant next door every time he wanted to use the bathroom. On top of that, the FBI built its case on a series of confidential informants who themselves could not stop committing crimes and engaging in bizarre behavior. Even some of the FBI agents themselves were caught in uncomfortable situations. It was ugly and embarrassing all-around.
The podcast will be hosted by Garrison, now of The Los Angeles Times, and Ken Bensinger, now of The New York Times, who uncovered this story while reporting for BuzzFeed News.
Miller and Cohn are simultaneously working on the TV adaptation. They are currently teamed with Campside and Sony Music Entertainment to develop a TV adaptation of Scam Likely, the fourth season of Chameleon, which tells the story of a small team of government investigators that hunt for the multinational mob behind a con that has seen ordinary citizens all around the U.S. lose their life savings to scam callers.
The pair began their careers working under David E. Kelley. They recently created limited drama series Tango, which traces the 18 tumultuous months before, during and after the scandalous production of Last Tango in Paris, directed by Lisa Brühlman and José Padilha, that is being shopped by CBS Studios and Stampede Ventures at Mip, and are writing comedy feature Is This Legal, directed by Frankie Shaw for Amazon.
The first season of Chameleon told the story of the Hollywood con queen; the second, High Rollers, tells the story of a check-kiting informant, an FBI undercover agent, and a group of Las Vegas businesspeople all pretend to be money launderers; the third, Wild Boys, explores the tale of two half-starved young men that turned up in a small Canadian town telling an incredible story; the fourth was Scam Likely, and the fifth is Dr. Dante, which tells the story of the greatest conman the world has never heard of.
The first season was optioned by eOne for Will Gluck to direct and co-write, along with Noah Pink and High Rollers and Wild Boys are also in development for TV.
Campside Media is also behind podcasts such as Suspect, Hooked and Run, Bambi, Run. Formed by long-form journalists Josh Dean, Vanessa Grigoriadias, Matt Shaer, along with the screenwriter/producer Adam Hoff, it is backed by Chernobyl producer Sister.
“The goal the entire time we produce a podcast and know it will be adapted is to ultimately get it in the hands of writers as talented as Dan and Jeremy,” said Campside co-founder Adam Hoff. “To find out that they were already working on a version of this story just as we were talking to Ken and Jessica about access meant we could partner everyone from the very beginning, which is a dream come true.”
“Ken and I dug into the Michigan plot thinking we were going to learn about right-wing extremism in America and explore whether the U.S. government is overreaching in prosecuting these cases. And we did that. But we also uncovered a deeply human dark comedy, and we’re so excited to be able to tell that story in a podcast,” Garrison said.
Bensinger added, “This was an extreme example of the kind of case that played to public perceptions, shocking the public in its terrifying detail when it was first revealed just weeks before the 2020 election. But the truth was far stranger and murkier, turning the official story very soundly on its head.”
Cohn and Miller describe the story as an almost post-modern comedy about the absurdity of America at the convergence of government, crime, and media coverage. “The lines were so blurred in this case, it was impossible to decipher the good guys from the bad guys,” said Miller. “This feels like Fargo with both sides of America represented. We couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried,” added Cohn.
Campside is repped by UTA. Miller & Cohn are repped by UTA, Kaplan/Perrone and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman.
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