Six-part docuseries based on the Slate podcast hosted by Leon Neyfakh and produced by Left/Right to air in late 2019.
Premium network EPIX has greenlit Slow Burn, a six-episode docuseries based on the hit podcast of the same name. From Nixon and Watergate to Clinton’s impeachment, host Leon Neyfakh excavates the strange subplots and forgotten characters involved in the downfall of a president – flashing back to politically tumultuous times not so far removed from today. Slow Burn, winner of Best Podcast at the first iHeartRadio Podcast Awards, is produced by Slate. The docuseries will be produced in partnership between Left/Right and Slate.
Season one of EPIX’s series adaptation will mirror that of the podcast, looking back on the Watergate crisis and exploring its parallels with the present.
“With Slow Burn, Leon Neyfakh took a profound and compelling journey through some of the most unforgettable times in political history,” said Michael Wright, President, EPIX. “As huge fans of the podcast, we’re thrilled to work with our partners at Slate, Left/Right and, of course, Leon, to further explore what he so brilliantly brought to the fore.”
Slow Burn is executive produced by Leon Neyfakh, along with Ken Druckerman and Banks Tarver for Left/Right and Dan Check, Julia Turner and Gabriel Roth for Slate.
Neyfakh started his reporting career at the New York Observer before joining The Boston Globe as the staff writer for the Ideas section covering the world of academia. At Slate, he reported on the criminal justice system and the Justice Department before co-creating Slow Burn with Andrew Parsons. Most recently, Neyfakh launched an independent podcast studio, Prologue Projects, and this spring will launch a new podcast series entitled Fiasco. The first season will focus on the 2000 election, and the second – following later in 2019 – on the Iran-Contra affair. Neyfakh is the author of The Next Next Level, a critically-acclaimed blend of memoir and reporting about choosing between the life of an artist and the stability of a nine-to-five job.