Writer/director Geremy Jasper has a couple of music-themed features under his belt. Patti Cake$ remains one of the most electric festival experiences I’ve ever had. He also directed Sadie Sink in O’Dessa, which you may recall was a musical adaptation of the Orpheus & Eurydice myth. Jasper also has some music videos under his belt, which seems particularly relevant considering his next project is a film based on MTV, at one time the ultimate channel for music lovers around the world.
Deadline confirms that Jasper will team up with NEON on a long-in-the-works adaptation of I Want My MTV, based on the book I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum.
Jasper will direct and co-write the film alongside Jim Hecht, known for the HBO sports drama series Winning Time.
It’s wild that some of you are too young to remember a time when MTV was more than just a reality TV channel. Almost from the moment it launched in 1981, it sparked a music video revolution that launched thousands of careers and changed the way the world consumed music. That was until it started focusing on animated series like Beavis & Butthead, and of course, reality shows such as The Real World.
Here’s a synopsis of the book: “I Want My MTV” tells the story of the first decade of MTV, the golden era when MTV’s programming was all videos, all the time, and kids watched religiously to see their favorite bands, learn about new music, and have something to talk about at parties. From its start in 1981 with a small cache of videos by mostly unknown British new wave acts to the launch of the reality-television craze with “The Real World” in 1992, MTV grew into a tastemaker, a career maker, and a mammoth business. Featuring interviews with nearly four hundred artists, directors, VJs, and television and music executives, I Want My MTV is a testament to the channel that changed popular culture forever.
Back in 2016, James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now) came close to adapting I Want My MTV. Another attempt had Brett Ratner *shudder* attached. My only question, as I asked at the time, remains the same. Who is gonna play my girl, iconic VJ Martha Quinn? I wanna know.
